Using Senator Lindsey Graham's website, I sent the following email to him. I also sent the same email to ALL of my politicians using the Tea Party Citizen Action Center.
Dear Sen. Graham (and ALL of my elected politicians):
While I live in LA now, I was born in Beaufort, SC, when my dad was stationed at Parris Island Marine Corps base. [While I realize you are elected by the voters of SC, once you are a U.S. Senator, your actions affect ALL Americans and based on the fact that I AM a S. Carolinian and an American, I think you should represent me and respond to my email]
Now, to my issue...
Why are you supporting amnesty for the 12 MILLION illegal aliens that have broken into our country?
I use this analogy when I confront my local politicians.
If some people broke into your attic and lived there for a month or a year or even a few years and never bothered you, but then one day, you find out they are living there [and have been using your home's resources the entire time].... would you grant them amnesty to continue to live in your attic forever?
OF COURSE NOT..... YOU WOULD CALL THE POLICE AND HAVE THEM ALL HAULED OFF TO JAIL JUST LIKE ALL OF THE ILLEGAL ALIENS SHOULD BE PUT IN JAIL FOR BREAKING INTO OUR COUNTRY AND CONTINUING TO TRESPASS ON OUR LAND WHILE THEY ARE HERE ILLEGALLY. IF NOT JAILED, THEN DEPORTED BACK TO THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN!!!
Sincerely,
Leonard Vasbinder
And the replies coming pouring in...
-----Original Message-----
From: Senator@lgraham.senate.gov [mailto:Senator@lgraham.senate.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 4:53 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Your Message
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate the opportunity to hear from you.
Due to the large volume of mail I receive, I regret that I am only able to respond personally to inquiries from South Carolinians.
As we continue our work in the 111th Congress, I look forward to supporting our troops in the War on Terror, repairing our economy and creating jobs, strengthening Social Security, lowering the tax burden on American families, and making the federal government more accountable and efficient.
If your correspondence pertains to a scheduling request, please fax your request to (202) 224-3808.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Graham
----------------
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
My "Please NUKE WASHINGTON, D.C." Email To All Politicians
Using the Tea Party Citizen Action Center website, I sent the following email to ALL of my elected crooks in one simple step. Folks should try this!!!! The site automatically addresses all of the emails to your proper elected official based on your address.
Message Recipients:
Your President
Your Vice President
Your US Senators
Your US Representative
Your Governor
Your Lt. Governor
Your Secretary of State
Your Attorney General
Your State Senator
Your State Representative
Subject:
STOP BANKRUPTING AMERICA.... AND AMERICANS!!!
Salutation:
Dear [Recipient's name will be automatically inserted here]
Stop Obamacare and the socializing of America!
Stop deficit spending by Washington, D.C. and any states that are doing it and expecting a bailout.
Balance the budget like everyone else has to do.
Seriously cut back the federal budget which is has grown more than 10 times as much as wages in the past 20 years.
It took over 200 years for the national debt to grow to nearly $10 TRILLION by the end of President Bush's second term and now Obama has grown that to over $12 TRILLION in his first year and the CBO estimates the national debt to be $18.5 TRILLION by the end of 2014 and will more than double under Obama's presidency if he gets re-elected in 2012.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU POLITICIANS TO QUIT STEALING OUR FUTURE???
WILL IT TAKE CHINA, RUSSIA, N. KOREA OR IRAN TO NUKE THE BELTWAY TO KILL ALL OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP SINCE WE VOTERS CAN'T SEEM TO STOP YOU ALL AT THE POLLS???
I hate to say it but I'm about to start praying that some foreign enemy will NUKE Washington, D.C. so America can start over and hopefully learn from our mistakes. You know the old saying... the enemy of my enemy is my friend so if it happens, I guess I have a lot of new friends in whichever country does the job that we the voters can't seem to do!!!
Signed:
Leonard Vasbinder
(included my address and phone numbers)
Here's the confirmation email that I got a minute later to show it was sent for me...
-----Original Message-----
From: donotreply@votervoice.net [mailto:donotreply@votervoice.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:27 AM
To: Leonard Vasbinder
Subject: Confirmation of: STOP BANKRUPTING AMERICA.... AND AMERICANS!!!
***Please do not reply to this email--this confirmation simply lets you know that your message was sent.***
Leonard Vasbinder:
Your message has been sent to the following recipients:
* President Barack Obama
* Vice President Joe Biden
* Senator Mary Landrieu
* Senator David Vitter
* Representative Steve Scalise
* Governor Bobby Jindal
* Lt. Governor Mitchell Landrieu
* Secretary of State Jay Dardenne
* Attorney General Buddy Caldwell
* Senator Conrad Appel
* Representative Kirk Talbot
The content of your message is as follows:
Dear [The message(s) you sent had each recipient's name here]:
Stop Obamacare and the socializing of America!
Stop deficit spending by Washington, D.C. and any states that are doing it and expecting a bailout.
Balance the budget like everyone else has to do.
Seriously cut back the federal budget which is has grown more than 10 times as much as wages in the past 20 years.
It took over 200 years for the national debt to grow to nearly $10 TRILLION by the end of President Bush's second term and now Obama has grown that to over $12 TRILLION in his first year and the CBO estimates the national debt to be $18.5 TRILLION by the end of 2014 and will more than double under Obama's presidency if he gets re-elected in 2012.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU POLITICIANS TO QUIT STEALING OUR FUTURE???
WILL IT TAKE CHINA, RUSSIA, N. KOREA OR IRAN TO NUKE THE BELTWAY TO KILL ALL OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP SINCE WE VOTERS CAN'T SEEM TO STOP YOU ALL AT THE POLLS???
I hate to say it but I'm about to start praying that some foreign enemy will NUKE Washington, D.C. so America can start over and hopefully learn from our mistakes. You know the old saying... the enemy of my enemy is my friend so if it happens, I guess I have a lot of new friends in whichever country does the job that we the voters can't seem to do!!!
Sincerely,
Leonard Vasbinder
And now the canned, automated replies from our un-hearing politicians...
-----Original Message-----
From: noreplycc@gov.state.la.us [mailto:noreplycc@gov.state.la.us]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 4:59 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: A Message from Gov. Bobby Jindal
April 22, 2010
Dear Mr. Vasbinder,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the federal health care legislation that was recently signed into law. Please be assured that I take your concerns very seriously.
The massive health care mandate that recently came out of Washington, D.C. marked a sad day for democracy. Americans had expressed their opposition against this bill over and over again, but Washington ignored us. Not only did Washington miss a real opportunity to lower health care costs and improve our system, they could have also done it in a bipartisan manner with broad support. Instead Washington passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill at a time of economic challenges and record deficits, when government needs to cut spending and taxes, not dramatically increase them. This bill cuts more than a half trillion dollars from the Medicare program, imposes new taxes totaling $569.2 billion on Americans, and raises taxes on medical products. Indeed, the actual costs of the bill will be around $2.4 trillion because much of the spending in the bill kicks in after years of higher taxes.
This bill will also significantly cut our state's public hospital funding, following a previous federal $200 million cut to public and rural hospital funds. Early estimates from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals show that the bill will cost our state around $345 million a year, starting the first year of the full 10 percent state match. Our state will be forced to absorb this cost and will have to add 360,000 new Medicaid enrollees in the Medicaid program. These additional enrollees do not include the unknown number of people that are eligible for Medicaid today but not enrolled in the program. Under this new mandate, all of those individuals would also be required to join Medicaid.
Very importantly, I believe that the bill's mandate on all Americans to buy health insurance is in conflict with the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which preserves rights to individuals and states that are not prescribed to the federal government. We have already began working with our Louisiana Attorney General to join with other states in asserting the constitutional rights of our citizens under this amendment, which protects them against a federal requirement to purchase a certain
product. For the first time in our country's history, Congress is saying there would be a requirement to purchase a particular product, good or service as a requirement to be a citizen of the United States of America.
Additionally, this bill also paves the way for taxpayer funding of elective abortions, making an end-run around a law that has prevented this from happening for years. We have already started working to pass a law in the upcoming legislative session that will opt the state out of using Louisiana taxpayer money to fund elective abortions in the state's purchasing exchange, created under the bill.
I am strongly committed to improving Louisiana's health care system and ensuring quality health care for all of our citizens. As we continue to comb through the thousands of pages of this legislation, we will get a better idea of what it will cost our state and our people and what other strings are attached. My focus remains on taking whatever actions we can to protect our people from the harmful effects of this legislation. The bottom line is that this is a bad bill for Louisiana and a bad bill for America.
I truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns, and please continue to contact us in the future with any further questions.
Very Truly Yours,
/s/ Bobby Jindal
Governor Bobby Jindal
State of Louisiana
BJ/mm
ATTACHMENT: Governor Bobby Jindal's Wall Street Journal Editorial
Persistence Is The Key
By Bobby Jindal
After forcing through a massive health-care overhaul that the public does not want, the president and Democratic leaders in Congress are threatening us with yet another PR campaign to make us like it. Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, some level of hand- wringing has broken out among GOP strategists. Should we push for repeal? Will it work? Is there some danger in that strategy?
Well, let's see. We just spent 13 months arguing against the Democrats' top-down approach to health care, contending that it must be stopped for the good of our country, the health of our citizens, and the future of our nation's economy. So, should we try to repeal it? Only in Washington is this a hard question.
The arguments against repeal are the following:
1) It's next to impossible. Nothing of this magnitude has ever been repealed.
2) Even if Republicans take control of Congress this fall, the president would veto repeal.
3) It will be hard to take things away from people once the government starts giving them out.
4) There are parts of the bill that the public will like.
5) We don't want to be labeled the party of "no."
Let's take them one at a time.
1) It's impossible. Wrong. There is a first time for everything. It's similarly "impossible" for the son of Indian immigrants to get elected in the deep South. It's impossible for an African-American to get elected president. You get the picture.
2) President Obama would veto a repeal bill. Yes, he sure would. Do it anyway. And do it again after he is gone. (By the way, President Clinton vetoed welfare reform twice before he signed it into law.)
3) It will be hard to take things away. Probably so. But the reality is that growth of federal entitlements is strangling the economic engine of our country. Someone has to draw the line somewhere. Do we want to go the way of Western Europe? If not, we better get moving in the other direction immediately.
4) There are parts of the bill the public will like. No doubt about it. There are parts I like-though I have yet to read the fine print-such as allowing parents to keep kids on their policies until they are 26 years old. And there's bound to be more good policy in there: 2,409 pages can't be all bad. But the overall direction of the bill is to empower government, not patients.
5) We don't want to be labeled the party of "no." As it pertains to this bill, how about "hell no"? Newt Gingrich is saying we should "repeal and replace." That works.
Mr. Jindal, a Republican, is the governor of Louisiana.
This email account is intended only for outgoing purposes. You may email the Governor's Office at constituent@la.gov.
--------------
-----Original Message-----
From: ScaliseCorr@mail.house.gov [mailto:ScaliseCorr@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 4:59 PM
To: lnvtm2@gmail.com
Subject: A Message from Congressman Scalise
April 22, 2010
Dear Mr. Vasbinder:
Thank you for your correspondence regarding our national debt. It is an honor to represent the First Congressional District of Louisiana, and your thoughts and concerns are very important to me.
I share your concerns about our skyrocketing national debt and unsustainable deficit spending. President Obama has proposed a budget that will double the national debt in just five years, and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the debt will spike to nearly $20 trillion by 2019. If the liberals in Congress and the Obama Administration continue to spend money we do not have, our nation's strong credit rating and the value of the U.S. dollar will slip downward. Furthermore, to continue to borrow, spend, and leave the tab to our children and grandchildren would be nothing short of a moral travesty. This unprecedented level of debt continues to erode America's fiscal foundation, and we need to draw a line in the sand and say "enough is enough."
I recently introduced H.R. 4262, the "CAP the DEBT Act" (Control America's Purse-strings to Deliver a Better Tomorrow). With 75 cosponsors in Congress and endorsed by Citizens Against Government Waste, my bill would make it more difficult for Congress to raise the debt limit. Instead of allowing a debt limit increase to pass by a simple majority vote or as part of a larger bill, the CAP the DEBT Act requires a 2/3rds vote on a stand-alone bill in both the House and Senate to pass a debt limit increase. This bill forces Members of Congress to be accountable for their vote on the debt limit and will also protect the American people from reckless borrowing and spending.
In addition to easing the tax burden on American families and small businesses and cutting wasteful spending, I strongly support an Amendment to the United States Constitution to require a balanced federal budget. Due to my voting record in support of small and efficient government, I was named a "Taxpayer Hero" by Citizens Against Government Waste and ranked in the top 5 percent of that organization's rankings of Members of Congress who protect the American taxpayer. I firmly believe that reducing our national debt, eliminating deficits, cutting spending, and streamlining government are crucial to preserving the freedoms afforded to the people of our great nation. I will continue to work on behalf of this cause while serving you in Congress.
Thank you again for contacting me. I invite you to visit my website at www.scalise.house.govfor more information. You can also sign up for my e-newsletter, the "Scalise Capitol Report," by clicking here . Please do not hesitate to contact my office in the future on matters of importance to you.
-----------
-----Original Message-----
From: David_Vitter@vitter.senate.gov [mailto:David_Vitter@vitter.senate.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 9:24 AM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: Responding to your message
Dear Mr. Vasbinder,
Thank you for contacting me in support of repealing President Obama's health care bill. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue, and I completely agree with you.
Right after Obamacare became law, I introduced the Patient Choice Restoration Act to repeal it. Also, I offered an amendment to repeal it, but my amendment was unfortunately defeated in the Senate. I will keep fighting.
President Obama's bill will cost about $1 trillion, increases taxes by more than half a trillion dollars, cuts Medicare by more than half a trillion dollar, and adds to our country's already-skyrocketing debt. It includes job-killing tax increases and mandates, and it allows the government to come between the doctor-patient relationship. Also, its mandates are likely unconstitutional, and the process by which it passed disrespected not only the will of the American people but also our legislative process. Worst of all, it insults and disregards the traditions that have made our country great - limited government, personal responsibility, and individual freedom. Rest assured that I will continue working tirelessly to repeal it.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other issues important to you.
Sincerely,
Senator David Vitter
United States Senator
P.S. Please visit my website to sign up for E-Updatesand receive regular email updates from me on the issues important to Louisiana families.
Message Recipients:
Your President
Your Vice President
Your US Senators
Your US Representative
Your Governor
Your Lt. Governor
Your Secretary of State
Your Attorney General
Your State Senator
Your State Representative
Subject:
STOP BANKRUPTING AMERICA.... AND AMERICANS!!!
Salutation:
Dear [Recipient's name will be automatically inserted here]
Stop Obamacare and the socializing of America!
Stop deficit spending by Washington, D.C. and any states that are doing it and expecting a bailout.
Balance the budget like everyone else has to do.
Seriously cut back the federal budget which is has grown more than 10 times as much as wages in the past 20 years.
It took over 200 years for the national debt to grow to nearly $10 TRILLION by the end of President Bush's second term and now Obama has grown that to over $12 TRILLION in his first year and the CBO estimates the national debt to be $18.5 TRILLION by the end of 2014 and will more than double under Obama's presidency if he gets re-elected in 2012.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU POLITICIANS TO QUIT STEALING OUR FUTURE???
WILL IT TAKE CHINA, RUSSIA, N. KOREA OR IRAN TO NUKE THE BELTWAY TO KILL ALL OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP SINCE WE VOTERS CAN'T SEEM TO STOP YOU ALL AT THE POLLS???
I hate to say it but I'm about to start praying that some foreign enemy will NUKE Washington, D.C. so America can start over and hopefully learn from our mistakes. You know the old saying... the enemy of my enemy is my friend so if it happens, I guess I have a lot of new friends in whichever country does the job that we the voters can't seem to do!!!
Signed:
Leonard Vasbinder
(included my address and phone numbers)
Here's the confirmation email that I got a minute later to show it was sent for me...
-----Original Message-----
From: donotreply@votervoice.net [mailto:donotreply@votervoice.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:27 AM
To: Leonard Vasbinder
Subject: Confirmation of: STOP BANKRUPTING AMERICA.... AND AMERICANS!!!
***Please do not reply to this email--this confirmation simply lets you know that your message was sent.***
Leonard Vasbinder:
Your message has been sent to the following recipients:
* President Barack Obama
* Vice President Joe Biden
* Senator Mary Landrieu
* Senator David Vitter
* Representative Steve Scalise
* Governor Bobby Jindal
* Lt. Governor Mitchell Landrieu
* Secretary of State Jay Dardenne
* Attorney General Buddy Caldwell
* Senator Conrad Appel
* Representative Kirk Talbot
The content of your message is as follows:
Dear [The message(s) you sent had each recipient's name here]:
Stop Obamacare and the socializing of America!
Stop deficit spending by Washington, D.C. and any states that are doing it and expecting a bailout.
Balance the budget like everyone else has to do.
Seriously cut back the federal budget which is has grown more than 10 times as much as wages in the past 20 years.
It took over 200 years for the national debt to grow to nearly $10 TRILLION by the end of President Bush's second term and now Obama has grown that to over $12 TRILLION in his first year and the CBO estimates the national debt to be $18.5 TRILLION by the end of 2014 and will more than double under Obama's presidency if he gets re-elected in 2012.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOU POLITICIANS TO QUIT STEALING OUR FUTURE???
WILL IT TAKE CHINA, RUSSIA, N. KOREA OR IRAN TO NUKE THE BELTWAY TO KILL ALL OF YOU IN ONE FELL SWOOP SINCE WE VOTERS CAN'T SEEM TO STOP YOU ALL AT THE POLLS???
I hate to say it but I'm about to start praying that some foreign enemy will NUKE Washington, D.C. so America can start over and hopefully learn from our mistakes. You know the old saying... the enemy of my enemy is my friend so if it happens, I guess I have a lot of new friends in whichever country does the job that we the voters can't seem to do!!!
Sincerely,
Leonard Vasbinder
And now the canned, automated replies from our un-hearing politicians...
-----Original Message-----
From: noreplycc@gov.state.la.us [mailto:noreplycc@gov.state.la.us]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 4:59 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: A Message from Gov. Bobby Jindal
April 22, 2010
Dear Mr. Vasbinder,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the federal health care legislation that was recently signed into law. Please be assured that I take your concerns very seriously.
The massive health care mandate that recently came out of Washington, D.C. marked a sad day for democracy. Americans had expressed their opposition against this bill over and over again, but Washington ignored us. Not only did Washington miss a real opportunity to lower health care costs and improve our system, they could have also done it in a bipartisan manner with broad support. Instead Washington passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill at a time of economic challenges and record deficits, when government needs to cut spending and taxes, not dramatically increase them. This bill cuts more than a half trillion dollars from the Medicare program, imposes new taxes totaling $569.2 billion on Americans, and raises taxes on medical products. Indeed, the actual costs of the bill will be around $2.4 trillion because much of the spending in the bill kicks in after years of higher taxes.
This bill will also significantly cut our state's public hospital funding, following a previous federal $200 million cut to public and rural hospital funds. Early estimates from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals show that the bill will cost our state around $345 million a year, starting the first year of the full 10 percent state match. Our state will be forced to absorb this cost and will have to add 360,000 new Medicaid enrollees in the Medicaid program. These additional enrollees do not include the unknown number of people that are eligible for Medicaid today but not enrolled in the program. Under this new mandate, all of those individuals would also be required to join Medicaid.
Very importantly, I believe that the bill's mandate on all Americans to buy health insurance is in conflict with the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which preserves rights to individuals and states that are not prescribed to the federal government. We have already began working with our Louisiana Attorney General to join with other states in asserting the constitutional rights of our citizens under this amendment, which protects them against a federal requirement to purchase a certain
product. For the first time in our country's history, Congress is saying there would be a requirement to purchase a particular product, good or service as a requirement to be a citizen of the United States of America.
Additionally, this bill also paves the way for taxpayer funding of elective abortions, making an end-run around a law that has prevented this from happening for years. We have already started working to pass a law in the upcoming legislative session that will opt the state out of using Louisiana taxpayer money to fund elective abortions in the state's purchasing exchange, created under the bill.
I am strongly committed to improving Louisiana's health care system and ensuring quality health care for all of our citizens. As we continue to comb through the thousands of pages of this legislation, we will get a better idea of what it will cost our state and our people and what other strings are attached. My focus remains on taking whatever actions we can to protect our people from the harmful effects of this legislation. The bottom line is that this is a bad bill for Louisiana and a bad bill for America.
I truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns, and please continue to contact us in the future with any further questions.
Very Truly Yours,
/s/ Bobby Jindal
Governor Bobby Jindal
State of Louisiana
BJ/mm
ATTACHMENT: Governor Bobby Jindal's Wall Street Journal Editorial
Persistence Is The Key
By Bobby Jindal
After forcing through a massive health-care overhaul that the public does not want, the president and Democratic leaders in Congress are threatening us with yet another PR campaign to make us like it. Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, some level of hand- wringing has broken out among GOP strategists. Should we push for repeal? Will it work? Is there some danger in that strategy?
Well, let's see. We just spent 13 months arguing against the Democrats' top-down approach to health care, contending that it must be stopped for the good of our country, the health of our citizens, and the future of our nation's economy. So, should we try to repeal it? Only in Washington is this a hard question.
The arguments against repeal are the following:
1) It's next to impossible. Nothing of this magnitude has ever been repealed.
2) Even if Republicans take control of Congress this fall, the president would veto repeal.
3) It will be hard to take things away from people once the government starts giving them out.
4) There are parts of the bill that the public will like.
5) We don't want to be labeled the party of "no."
Let's take them one at a time.
1) It's impossible. Wrong. There is a first time for everything. It's similarly "impossible" for the son of Indian immigrants to get elected in the deep South. It's impossible for an African-American to get elected president. You get the picture.
2) President Obama would veto a repeal bill. Yes, he sure would. Do it anyway. And do it again after he is gone. (By the way, President Clinton vetoed welfare reform twice before he signed it into law.)
3) It will be hard to take things away. Probably so. But the reality is that growth of federal entitlements is strangling the economic engine of our country. Someone has to draw the line somewhere. Do we want to go the way of Western Europe? If not, we better get moving in the other direction immediately.
4) There are parts of the bill the public will like. No doubt about it. There are parts I like-though I have yet to read the fine print-such as allowing parents to keep kids on their policies until they are 26 years old. And there's bound to be more good policy in there: 2,409 pages can't be all bad. But the overall direction of the bill is to empower government, not patients.
5) We don't want to be labeled the party of "no." As it pertains to this bill, how about "hell no"? Newt Gingrich is saying we should "repeal and replace." That works.
Mr. Jindal, a Republican, is the governor of Louisiana.
This email account is intended only for outgoing purposes. You may email the Governor's Office at constituent@la.gov.
--------------
-----Original Message-----
From: ScaliseCorr@mail.house.gov [mailto:ScaliseCorr@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 4:59 PM
To: lnvtm2@gmail.com
Subject: A Message from Congressman Scalise
April 22, 2010
Dear Mr. Vasbinder:
Thank you for your correspondence regarding our national debt. It is an honor to represent the First Congressional District of Louisiana, and your thoughts and concerns are very important to me.
I share your concerns about our skyrocketing national debt and unsustainable deficit spending. President Obama has proposed a budget that will double the national debt in just five years, and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the debt will spike to nearly $20 trillion by 2019. If the liberals in Congress and the Obama Administration continue to spend money we do not have, our nation's strong credit rating and the value of the U.S. dollar will slip downward. Furthermore, to continue to borrow, spend, and leave the tab to our children and grandchildren would be nothing short of a moral travesty. This unprecedented level of debt continues to erode America's fiscal foundation, and we need to draw a line in the sand and say "enough is enough."
I recently introduced H.R. 4262, the "CAP the DEBT Act" (Control America's Purse-strings to Deliver a Better Tomorrow). With 75 cosponsors in Congress and endorsed by Citizens Against Government Waste, my bill would make it more difficult for Congress to raise the debt limit. Instead of allowing a debt limit increase to pass by a simple majority vote or as part of a larger bill, the CAP the DEBT Act requires a 2/3rds vote on a stand-alone bill in both the House and Senate to pass a debt limit increase. This bill forces Members of Congress to be accountable for their vote on the debt limit and will also protect the American people from reckless borrowing and spending.
In addition to easing the tax burden on American families and small businesses and cutting wasteful spending, I strongly support an Amendment to the United States Constitution to require a balanced federal budget. Due to my voting record in support of small and efficient government, I was named a "Taxpayer Hero" by Citizens Against Government Waste and ranked in the top 5 percent of that organization's rankings of Members of Congress who protect the American taxpayer. I firmly believe that reducing our national debt, eliminating deficits, cutting spending, and streamlining government are crucial to preserving the freedoms afforded to the people of our great nation. I will continue to work on behalf of this cause while serving you in Congress.
Thank you again for contacting me. I invite you to visit my website at www.scalise.house.gov
-----------
-----Original Message-----
From: David_Vitter@vitter.senate.gov [mailto:David_Vitter@vitter.senate.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 9:24 AM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: Responding to your message
Dear Mr. Vasbinder,
Thank you for contacting me in support of repealing President Obama's health care bill. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue, and I completely agree with you.
Right after Obamacare became law, I introduced the Patient Choice Restoration Act to repeal it. Also, I offered an amendment to repeal it, but my amendment was unfortunately defeated in the Senate. I will keep fighting.
President Obama's bill will cost about $1 trillion, increases taxes by more than half a trillion dollars, cuts Medicare by more than half a trillion dollar, and adds to our country's already-skyrocketing debt. It includes job-killing tax increases and mandates, and it allows the government to come between the doctor-patient relationship. Also, its mandates are likely unconstitutional, and the process by which it passed disrespected not only the will of the American people but also our legislative process. Worst of all, it insults and disregards the traditions that have made our country great - limited government, personal responsibility, and individual freedom. Rest assured that I will continue working tirelessly to repeal it.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about other issues important to you.
Sincerely,
Senator David Vitter
United States Senator
P.S. Please visit my website to sign up for E-Updates
Monday, March 22, 2010
NOTA - None Of The Above
http://tinyurl.com/Blog-NOTA-NoneOfTheAbove
Well, for over 20 years, I've been writing op-ed's, letters to the editor's, letters and emails to politicians and more recently comments to online articles but here's my first blog on the topic.
Down here in my neck of the woods, we have had several local elections where NONE OF THE ABOVE should have been a choice and likely would have won, going back to the Edwin Edwards vs. David Duke gubernatorial race for the Governor of Louisiana to more recent races where Ray Nagin won a second term for Mayor of the "Chocolate City of New Orleans".
I decided to start Googling for other websites and info about NOTA (which seems to be the most common acronym) and found MANY already exist. There is even one State in the USA, Nevada, where "None Of These Candidates" is listed on their ballots in all statewide races, including the President.
So... here's a partial list of the websites I've been reading the past couple of days... but at the top of the list is the NEW Yahoo Group I just started for NOTA folks to have a forum to discuss, debate and learn more about this MUCH NEEDED ballot choice.
NOTA Yahoo Group - Come join this forum and discuss, debate and learn more about NOTA and how it can help the individual voter gain more power over the powers-that-be so you do not have to choose the lesser of two evils.
http://www.nota.org/ - a pretty good and informative website with lots of good information from what I can see so far. They don't have a forum yet but I suggested they start up a NOTA Yahoo Group or just refer folks to the new group I started above.
http://nota.mywiz.org/ - you can JOIN this site and help it get more active. It seems pretty inactive right now but they do have forums and some good links.
http://www.noneoftheabove-tn.org/ - a NOTA movement for the State of Tennessee.
http://www.onlinenevada.org/None_of_These_Candidates - NOTA (or NOTC) is actually the LAW in Nevada, since 1975.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_the_above - Wikipedia's take on NOTA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates - Wikipedia's take on Nevada's NOTC law.
http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom111.htm - Nice long article about NOTA.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3159 - Same article reprinted in CFP - Canadian Free Press.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article5283.html - A GREAT website for political information and Nolan also supports NOTA issues.... and lots of comments on this article.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/OPINION/611100405/1029/OPINION01 - Herald-Tribune Newspaper article about NOTA from 2006.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/02/23/20060223-B1-02.html - The Columbus Dispatch 2006 article about NOTA.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-26-bush-sotu-corruption_x.htm?csp=14 - USA Today's take on the NOTA issue.
And... LAST but not least...
http://www.amazon.com/None-Above-2008-Ultimate-Protest/dp/1935071017 - "None Of The Above: Why 2008 Is The Year To Cast The Ultimate Protest Vote", a book all about NOTA.
I hope you decided to join the NOTA Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NOTA-NoneOfTheAbove/JOIN and if you did, say hi and lets start the discussion/debate on this much needed choice in Louisiana and National elections.
Lenny Vasbinder
Well, for over 20 years, I've been writing op-ed's, letters to the editor's, letters and emails to politicians and more recently comments to online articles but here's my first blog on the topic.
Down here in my neck of the woods, we have had several local elections where NONE OF THE ABOVE should have been a choice and likely would have won, going back to the Edwin Edwards vs. David Duke gubernatorial race for the Governor of Louisiana to more recent races where Ray Nagin won a second term for Mayor of the "Chocolate City of New Orleans".
I decided to start Googling for other websites and info about NOTA (which seems to be the most common acronym) and found MANY already exist. There is even one State in the USA, Nevada, where "None Of These Candidates" is listed on their ballots in all statewide races, including the President.
So... here's a partial list of the websites I've been reading the past couple of days... but at the top of the list is the NEW Yahoo Group I just started for NOTA folks to have a forum to discuss, debate and learn more about this MUCH NEEDED ballot choice.
NOTA Yahoo Group - Come join this forum and discuss, debate and learn more about NOTA and how it can help the individual voter gain more power over the powers-that-be so you do not have to choose the lesser of two evils.
http://www.nota.org/ - a pretty good and informative website with lots of good information from what I can see so far. They don't have a forum yet but I suggested they start up a NOTA Yahoo Group or just refer folks to the new group I started above.
http://nota.mywiz.org/ - you can JOIN this site and help it get more active. It seems pretty inactive right now but they do have forums and some good links.
http://www.noneoftheabove-tn.org/ - a NOTA movement for the State of Tennessee.
http://www.onlinenevada.org/None_of_These_Candidates - NOTA (or NOTC) is actually the LAW in Nevada, since 1975.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_the_above - Wikipedia's take on NOTA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates - Wikipedia's take on Nevada's NOTC law.
http://www.newswithviews.com/DeWeese/tom111.htm - Nice long article about NOTA.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3159 - Same article reprinted in CFP - Canadian Free Press.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article5283.html - A GREAT website for political information and Nolan also supports NOTA issues.... and lots of comments on this article.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/OPINION/611100405/1029/OPINION01 - Herald-Tribune Newspaper article about NOTA from 2006.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/02/23/20060223-B1-02.html - The Columbus Dispatch 2006 article about NOTA.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-26-bush-sotu-corruption_x.htm?csp=14 - USA Today's take on the NOTA issue.
And... LAST but not least...
http://www.amazon.com/None-Above-2008-Ultimate-Protest/dp/1935071017 - "None Of The Above: Why 2008 Is The Year To Cast The Ultimate Protest Vote", a book all about NOTA.
I hope you decided to join the NOTA Yahoo Group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NOTA-NoneOfTheAbove/JOIN and if you did, say hi and lets start the discussion/debate on this much needed choice in Louisiana and National elections.
Lenny Vasbinder
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Obama's Bench (to the tune of The Brady Bunch)
Here's the story about Prez. Obama.
Who was busy making us a bunch of Socialists.
Deficits and debt in the tens of trillions,
America is getting really PISSED!
Prez. Obama and his radical friends,
Professors' Gates, Ayers and Reverend Wright,
They were four men, racists together,
And they all hated people who were WHITE!
Till one day when Gates broke into his house,
9-1-1 was called, it wasn't a prank,
The cop tried to make sure Gates was legit,
He refused to show ID, then became a racist crank.
Obama answered a question at a presser,
He admitted he did not know all the facts.
Then he called the white police "stupidly",
Now he tries to back out his stupid racist acts!
Prez. Obama proposes a Beer Summit,
To try and smooth out the racist mess he made.
Invites the racist Gates and the nice cop,
To the White House and of course, the people paid!
Two racists and the nice white cop meet,
To solve black racism with beers, it's a cinch,
That this group could somehow get anything done,
At the White House sitting at Obama's Bench
Obama's Bench, Obama's Bench,
That's the way they solved racism at Obama's Bench.
Who was busy making us a bunch of Socialists.
Deficits and debt in the tens of trillions,
America is getting really PISSED!
Prez. Obama and his radical friends,
Professors' Gates, Ayers and Reverend Wright,
They were four men, racists together,
And they all hated people who were WHITE!
Till one day when Gates broke into his house,
9-1-1 was called, it wasn't a prank,
The cop tried to make sure Gates was legit,
He refused to show ID, then became a racist crank.
Obama answered a question at a presser,
He admitted he did not know all the facts.
Then he called the white police "stupidly",
Now he tries to back out his stupid racist acts!
Prez. Obama proposes a Beer Summit,
To try and smooth out the racist mess he made.
Invites the racist Gates and the nice cop,
To the White House and of course, the people paid!
Two racists and the nice white cop meet,
To solve black racism with beers, it's a cinch,
That this group could somehow get anything done,
At the White House sitting at Obama's Bench
Obama's Bench, Obama's Bench,
That's the way they solved racism at Obama's Bench.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
TUNE IN OBAMA!!!!
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:37 PM
To: 'President Barack Obama'
Subject: RE: Tune in
I'M GOING TO TUNE IN.
THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE FACT THAT YOU DO NOT TUNE IN TO WHAT AMERICA IS SAYING TO YOU.
STOP THE DAMNED DEFICIT SPENDING. FREEZE THE BUDGET AND THEN BALANCE IT. STOP THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT. GET RID OF ALL OF YOUR DAMNED CZARS.
THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE MR. PRESIDENT. IT'S BASIC ECONOMICS AND AMERICA DOES NOT WANT TO BE A SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST COUNTRY. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST COUNTRY, MOVE YOUR ASS TO ONE AND LEAVE AMERICA ALONE TO BECOME PROSPEROUS AGAIN!!!
AND YES, I SAID THE SAME THINGS TO PRESIDENT BUSH BUT HE DIDN'T LISTEN EITHER. ARE YOU GOING TO BE A DUMB FUCK LIKE HIM??? PROBABLY, BASED ON THE PAST SIX MONTHS.
Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.
-----Original Message-----
From: President Barack Obama [mailto:info@messages.whitehouse.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:16 PM
To: goldlenny@gmail.com
Subject: Tune in
The White House, Washington
Dear Friend,
As you read this, we are closer than ever to passing comprehensive health insurance reform that benefits American families and small businesses. Despite all the back and forth in the news right now, it is important to understand just how far we've come in this challenging process.
That's why I'm holding a press conference tonight at 8pm ET, and writing to let everyone know where we are, what's ahead, and why health insurance reform is so important.
Let me be clear: although Congress is still debating parts of the legislation we have achieved critical consensus on several key areas:
If you already have health insurance: reform will provide you with more security and stability. It will limit your own out of pocket costs and prevent your insurance company from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. You'll also have affordable insurance options if you lose or change your job. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don't have health insurance: you will finally have guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care, and you can choose the plan that best suits your family's needs. And no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.
Now, I realize that the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run, but we can't stop now. There's no dispute about it: we cannot control our long-term fiscal health as a nation without health insurance reform. American families and small businesses understand that the health insurance status quo is taking away those things that they value most about health care. The stability and security that comes with knowing that you can get the treatment you need, when you need it. Without reform, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits.
We have to seize this opportunity and pass health insurance reform this year. You can help by forwarding this email to your family and friends and letting them know what's at stake in this debate.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
P.S. Tune in to tonight's press conference on health insurance reform at 8pm ET on WhiteHouse.gov.
Visit Whitehouse.gov
From: Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:37 PM
To: 'President Barack Obama'
Subject: RE: Tune in
I'M GOING TO TUNE IN.
THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE FACT THAT YOU DO NOT TUNE IN TO WHAT AMERICA IS SAYING TO YOU.
STOP THE DAMNED DEFICIT SPENDING. FREEZE THE BUDGET AND THEN BALANCE IT. STOP THE GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT. GET RID OF ALL OF YOUR DAMNED CZARS.
THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE MR. PRESIDENT. IT'S BASIC ECONOMICS AND AMERICA DOES NOT WANT TO BE A SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST COUNTRY. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN A SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST COUNTRY, MOVE YOUR ASS TO ONE AND LEAVE AMERICA ALONE TO BECOME PROSPEROUS AGAIN!!!
AND YES, I SAID THE SAME THINGS TO PRESIDENT BUSH BUT HE DIDN'T LISTEN EITHER. ARE YOU GOING TO BE A DUMB FUCK LIKE HIM??? PROBABLY, BASED ON THE PAST SIX MONTHS.
Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.
-----Original Message-----
From: President Barack Obama [mailto:info@messages.whitehouse.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 3:16 PM
To: goldlenny@gmail.com
Subject: Tune in
The White House, Washington
Dear Friend,
As you read this, we are closer than ever to passing comprehensive health insurance reform that benefits American families and small businesses. Despite all the back and forth in the news right now, it is important to understand just how far we've come in this challenging process.
That's why I'm holding a press conference tonight at 8pm ET, and writing to let everyone know where we are, what's ahead, and why health insurance reform is so important.
Let me be clear: although Congress is still debating parts of the legislation we have achieved critical consensus on several key areas:
If you already have health insurance: reform will provide you with more security and stability. It will limit your own out of pocket costs and prevent your insurance company from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. You'll also have affordable insurance options if you lose or change your job. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don't have health insurance: you will finally have guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care, and you can choose the plan that best suits your family's needs. And no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.
Now, I realize that the last few miles of any race are the hardest to run, but we can't stop now. There's no dispute about it: we cannot control our long-term fiscal health as a nation without health insurance reform. American families and small businesses understand that the health insurance status quo is taking away those things that they value most about health care. The stability and security that comes with knowing that you can get the treatment you need, when you need it. Without reform, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits.
We have to seize this opportunity and pass health insurance reform this year. You can help by forwarding this email to your family and friends and letting them know what's at stake in this debate.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
P.S. Tune in to tonight's press conference on health insurance reform at 8pm ET on WhiteHouse.gov
Visit Whitehouse.gov
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
ONLY IN AMERICA: A COMMUNIST CZAR
From: RINGSIDE POLITICS NEWS
http://ringsidepolitics.com/The-News/Latest-News/ONLY-IN-AMERICA%3A-A-COMMUNIST-CZAR/
In imperial Russia, czars ruled the country and had complete power. They were imperial monarchs who were eventually overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the communist revolution. In Russia, the communists succeeded the czars and ruled with an iron first for 74 years. The brutal communist system, which featured gulags and mass murder eventually collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and failed economic policies.
Communism failed not only in Russia, but in every country where it has been tried. After the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, millions of Eastern Europeans tasted freedom for the first time. Sadly, communism remained in countries such as North Korea, China and Cuba and today it is seeing resurgence. Dictators such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua have communist tendencies and want to emulate Fidel Castro of Cuba.
What is amazing is that the United States of America is also following suit. The Obama administration has been aggressively accumulating as much government power as possible and taking over companies in the private sector. From the financial industry to the automotive industry, major entities are now owned by the federal government. This government intrusion into the free market system is disturbing to say the least, but making it even more disturbing is that the President is appointing radicals to his administration. Of course, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a host of other cabinet secretaries are renowned leftists, but they are positively conservative compared to "Green Jobs" czar Van Jones.
Jones is a self proclaimed communist, who worked as a black radical and has a long history as a left coast community organizer and anarchist. In 1992, Jones rioted after the Rodney King verdict and was arrested. Instead of changing his ways and becoming a law abiding citizen, Jones was "radicalized in jail." Upon his release, Jones started a utopian organization that advocated communism and central planning. Eventually, he became a proponent for extreme environmentalism and "green jobs."
President Obama is the first president in recent history to appoint a communist to a key government position. It is amazing that Obama would not only choose an admitted communist for this czar position, but someone with a criminal record. This is another in a long line of disturbing decisions made by Barack Obama.
The President is obviously intent on amassing as much power as possible in the executive branch of government which is why so many czars are being appointed. According to U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), the czars are part of a separate government structure that "is outside of the Constitution and the authority of Congress."
The czars purportedly have a special influence over a particular topic and can work across government departments to deal with a certain problem. Unlike cabinet secretaries, czars are not confirmed by Congress and report directly to the President, who sets their salary and creates their job role description. Therefore, the American people are clueless about the type of people that the President is appointing to the most important positions in government. There is no pubic examination of their record, so radicals and communists like Van Jones can slip into these offices with not one whiff of public opposition.
Of course, the media is completely negligent on this issue and is not doing their job of informing the public about the background of key people in this administration. Since the broadcast networks are basically cheerleaders for President Obama and were careful to minimize his radical association with terrorist William Ayers, it is not surprising that the major news outlets in this country are not alarmed about a communist wielding significant power in the Obama administration.
According to the best estimates, President Obama has appointed Jones and almost three dozen other czars to his administration, dealing with issues that range from drugs to the automotive industry. Do we really need a "domestic violence" czar or an "urban affairs" czar? Of course not and the creation of these positions expose a major problem with our government bureaucracy. According to publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, "It underscores the inefficiency of government that you keep ... having people, hoping that maybe they will get something done that the massive government bureaucracy cannot."
Our first czar was created to be the nation's quarterback in the war on drugs. Unfortunately, that effort was a major failure, as will the efforts of the 36 czars appointed by President Obama.
In imperial Russia, the czars also failed in their mission to hold power. They might have been unsuccessful, but they definitely were not communist. In this country, we are intent on creating government czars including one who is an unabashed communist.
Like imperial Russia, our czars will undoubted fail, but who knows how much damage they will do to our nation in the process. Eventually, this nation will either collapse like czarist Russia or Americans will wake up to the nightmare that is engulfing this nation and take action.
Jeff Crouere is the Host of "Ringside Politics," which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the Political Analyst for WGNO-TV ABC26 and a Columnist for selected publications. For more information, visit his web site at http://www.RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
http://ringsidepolitics.com/The-News/Latest-News/ONLY-IN-AMERICA%3A-A-COMMUNIST-CZAR/
In imperial Russia, czars ruled the country and had complete power. They were imperial monarchs who were eventually overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the communist revolution. In Russia, the communists succeeded the czars and ruled with an iron first for 74 years. The brutal communist system, which featured gulags and mass murder eventually collapsed under the weight of its own corruption and failed economic policies.
Communism failed not only in Russia, but in every country where it has been tried. After the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, millions of Eastern Europeans tasted freedom for the first time. Sadly, communism remained in countries such as North Korea, China and Cuba and today it is seeing resurgence. Dictators such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua have communist tendencies and want to emulate Fidel Castro of Cuba.
What is amazing is that the United States of America is also following suit. The Obama administration has been aggressively accumulating as much government power as possible and taking over companies in the private sector. From the financial industry to the automotive industry, major entities are now owned by the federal government. This government intrusion into the free market system is disturbing to say the least, but making it even more disturbing is that the President is appointing radicals to his administration. Of course, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a host of other cabinet secretaries are renowned leftists, but they are positively conservative compared to "Green Jobs" czar Van Jones.
Jones is a self proclaimed communist, who worked as a black radical and has a long history as a left coast community organizer and anarchist. In 1992, Jones rioted after the Rodney King verdict and was arrested. Instead of changing his ways and becoming a law abiding citizen, Jones was "radicalized in jail." Upon his release, Jones started a utopian organization that advocated communism and central planning. Eventually, he became a proponent for extreme environmentalism and "green jobs."
President Obama is the first president in recent history to appoint a communist to a key government position. It is amazing that Obama would not only choose an admitted communist for this czar position, but someone with a criminal record. This is another in a long line of disturbing decisions made by Barack Obama.
The President is obviously intent on amassing as much power as possible in the executive branch of government which is why so many czars are being appointed. According to U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), the czars are part of a separate government structure that "is outside of the Constitution and the authority of Congress."
The czars purportedly have a special influence over a particular topic and can work across government departments to deal with a certain problem. Unlike cabinet secretaries, czars are not confirmed by Congress and report directly to the President, who sets their salary and creates their job role description. Therefore, the American people are clueless about the type of people that the President is appointing to the most important positions in government. There is no pubic examination of their record, so radicals and communists like Van Jones can slip into these offices with not one whiff of public opposition.
Of course, the media is completely negligent on this issue and is not doing their job of informing the public about the background of key people in this administration. Since the broadcast networks are basically cheerleaders for President Obama and were careful to minimize his radical association with terrorist William Ayers, it is not surprising that the major news outlets in this country are not alarmed about a communist wielding significant power in the Obama administration.
According to the best estimates, President Obama has appointed Jones and almost three dozen other czars to his administration, dealing with issues that range from drugs to the automotive industry. Do we really need a "domestic violence" czar or an "urban affairs" czar? Of course not and the creation of these positions expose a major problem with our government bureaucracy. According to publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, "It underscores the inefficiency of government that you keep ... having people, hoping that maybe they will get something done that the massive government bureaucracy cannot."
Our first czar was created to be the nation's quarterback in the war on drugs. Unfortunately, that effort was a major failure, as will the efforts of the 36 czars appointed by President Obama.
In imperial Russia, the czars also failed in their mission to hold power. They might have been unsuccessful, but they definitely were not communist. In this country, we are intent on creating government czars including one who is an unabashed communist.
Like imperial Russia, our czars will undoubted fail, but who knows how much damage they will do to our nation in the process. Eventually, this nation will either collapse like czarist Russia or Americans will wake up to the nightmare that is engulfing this nation and take action.
Jeff Crouere is the Host of "Ringside Politics," which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. He is the Political Analyst for WGNO-TV ABC26 and a Columnist for selected publications. For more information, visit his web site at http://www.RingsidePolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Bonnabel High School Alumni News - 'Thirty Something' Class Reunion
.JPG)
Bonnabel High School Alumni
‘Thirty Something’ Class Reunion
Classes of ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, and ‘77
July 15th, 2009
RE: ‘Thirty Something Class Reunion News’
Hey Guys,
I hope this letter finds all well, healthy and fine. This letter will give you all the information and contacts in regards to our upcoming reunion.
‘Thirty Something’ Class Reunion
Classes of ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, and ‘77
July 15th, 2009
RE: ‘Thirty Something Class Reunion News’
Hey Guys,
I hope this letter finds all well, healthy and fine. This letter will give you all the information and contacts in regards to our upcoming reunion.
First, the dates of the reunion are Friday, October 16th, 2009. This is a ‘Guys Night Out’. The location and time will be announce later, and Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at Lafrenierre Park, Picnic Island. Again, the time will be announced later, but it will probably start around Noon. The cost for the picnic is $20.00 per person/ $40.00 per family (no matter how many). We are still working out the details. Please send your money in advance to Randy Langford at 52 Lisa Avenue Kenner, LA 70065. Make your checks payable to 74 Bonnabel Reunion. Please send as soon as possible.
We still need a lot of help, please review your own contact list and just shoot us an
e-mail with additional contacts (name, e-mail address and phone number if you have
it). In order to make this a success we need everyone's help, even if it is just an e-mail address or some additional contacts.
If you need additional information visit our official website http://www.bonnabelhigh.com/ and log into your year. Check the message board. We will use that means to keep everyone updated. You can also contact Earl Lombardo at (504) 231-6309, Jimmy Little at (504) 919-9206, or myself (Jay Castagnetta) at jcast324@netzero.net.
I truly hope to see everyone at one or both of the events. Take care and don’t forget to check out the website.
Jay Castagnetta
Reunion Committee
We still need a lot of help, please review your own contact list and just shoot us an
e-mail with additional contacts (name, e-mail address and phone number if you have
it). In order to make this a success we need everyone's help, even if it is just an e-mail address or some additional contacts.
If you need additional information visit our official website http://www.bonnabelhigh.com/ and log into your year. Check the message board. We will use that means to keep everyone updated. You can also contact Earl Lombardo at (504) 231-6309, Jimmy Little at (504) 919-9206, or myself (Jay Castagnetta) at jcast324@netzero.net.
I truly hope to see everyone at one or both of the events. Take care and don’t forget to check out the website.
Jay Castagnetta
Reunion Committee
By:
Lenny Vasbinder
Class Of ' 77
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Weather Underground - Weather Website Or Domestic Terrorist Group?
I've been a fan of the weather website, Weather Underground http://www.wunderground.com/ for many years but during the 2008 Presidential campaign, the name came up as being the name of a domestic terrorist group formed by William Ayers, a colleague and nearby neighbor of then liberal democratic party candidate, Barack Hussein Obama... now our socialist, tax and spend, big government President.
I tried to find some information on the web about any ties between the website and the terrorist group and when I was unable to find any, I decided to do a little research and I contacted the founder of the website and got information on the current director of the weather website.
Here's what two emails learned...
August 29, 2008
jmasters@wunderground.zzz (.com changed to .zzz to protect against spam-bots)
Dr. Jeff Masters,
I'm curious... did you know of the pre-existence of the 60's domestic terrorist group by the same name? I surely hope not and it's a shame that Obama's run for the presidency has brought that former radical leftist terrorist group, with the same name as your organization, into the lime-light.
Shouldn't you all put out some kind of disclaimer if you are not affiliated with that radical domestic terrorism group?
I did a Google and did not find anything linking your site to them, nor did I find any kind of disclaimer information.
Lenny Vasbinder
And his reply....
August 29, 2008
Hi, the company that became The Weather Underground grew out of an educational weather project with the same name that began in the early 1990s.
Since the educational weather project and the original radical group The Weather Underground both got their start at the University of Michigan, the professor that supervised the educational project thought it would be an amusing tongue-in-cheek name for our small weather project.
When the project became an amazingly successful one, and was spun off into a business, the name Weather Underground was kept--perhaps unwisely!
Had I known then what I know now about the original radical group, I don't think I would have agreed to name the company The Weather Underground.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Jeff Masters (jmasters@wunderground.zzz) (.com changed to .zzz)
Director of Meteorology ( )
The Weather Underground, Inc. ( )
300 N Fifth Ave #240 ------
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 \\\\\
734-994-8824 (voice) \`\`\
blog: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html
On Fri, 29 Aug 2008, NHSNOLA wrote:
> I'm curious... did you know of the pre-existence of the 60's domestic
> terrorist group by the same name? I surely hope not and it's a shame
> that Obama's run for the presidency has brought that former radical
> leftist terrorist group, with the same name as your organization, into
> the lime-light. Shouldn't you all put out some kind of disclaimer if
> you are not affiliate with that radical domestic terrorism group? I
> did a Google and did not find anything linking your site to them, nor
> did I find any kind of disclaimer information.
>
> Lenny Vasbinder
I tried to find some information on the web about any ties between the website and the terrorist group and when I was unable to find any, I decided to do a little research and I contacted the founder of the website and got information on the current director of the weather website.
Here's what two emails learned...
August 29, 2008
jmasters@wunderground.zzz (.com changed to .zzz to protect against spam-bots)
Dr. Jeff Masters,
I'm curious... did you know of the pre-existence of the 60's domestic terrorist group by the same name? I surely hope not and it's a shame that Obama's run for the presidency has brought that former radical leftist terrorist group, with the same name as your organization, into the lime-light.
Shouldn't you all put out some kind of disclaimer if you are not affiliated with that radical domestic terrorism group?
I did a Google and did not find anything linking your site to them, nor did I find any kind of disclaimer information.
Lenny Vasbinder
And his reply....
August 29, 2008
Hi, the company that became The Weather Underground grew out of an educational weather project with the same name that began in the early 1990s.
Since the educational weather project and the original radical group The Weather Underground both got their start at the University of Michigan, the professor that supervised the educational project thought it would be an amusing tongue-in-cheek name for our small weather project.
When the project became an amazingly successful one, and was spun off into a business, the name Weather Underground was kept--perhaps unwisely!
Had I known then what I know now about the original radical group, I don't think I would have agreed to name the company The Weather Underground.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Jeff Masters (jmasters@wunderground.zzz) (.com changed to .zzz)
Director of Meteorology ( )
The Weather Underground, Inc. ( )
300 N Fifth Ave #240 ------
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 \\\\\
734-994-8824 (voice) \`\`\
blog: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html
On Fri, 29 Aug 2008, NHSNOLA wrote:
> I'm curious... did you know of the pre-existence of the 60's domestic
> terrorist group by the same name? I surely hope not and it's a shame
> that Obama's run for the presidency has brought that former radical
> leftist terrorist group, with the same name as your organization, into
> the lime-light. Shouldn't you all put out some kind of disclaimer if
> you are not affiliate with that radical domestic terrorism group? I
> did a Google and did not find anything linking your site to them, nor
> did I find any kind of disclaimer information.
>
> Lenny Vasbinder
Monday, March 02, 2009
I WANT OBAMA TO FAIL!!!
Yes... I know it's politically incorrect to say it but it's true. I know Rush Limbaugh said it first.. or at least made it famous but so far he nor anyone in the mainstream drive-by media has explained what this means.
Obama is trying to transform our GREAT country into something resembling a socialist country. He is proposing more new government spending resulting in a deficit and driving up the national debt by over TWO TRILLION DOLLARS in his first year as president. I vehemently disagree with what he is trying to do to our GREAT country and therefore I want him to fail.
It's OK to want and to even pray that someone fails. For example...
If someone was about to kill your parents or your kids... do you want them to succeed or fail? If someone was about to rape your mother or your daughter... do you want them to succeed or fail? It's OK to pray that someone fails when they are about to cause great harm to other people in their actions.
Lenny Vasbinder
Obama is trying to transform our GREAT country into something resembling a socialist country. He is proposing more new government spending resulting in a deficit and driving up the national debt by over TWO TRILLION DOLLARS in his first year as president. I vehemently disagree with what he is trying to do to our GREAT country and therefore I want him to fail.
It's OK to want and to even pray that someone fails. For example...
If someone was about to kill your parents or your kids... do you want them to succeed or fail? If someone was about to rape your mother or your daughter... do you want them to succeed or fail? It's OK to pray that someone fails when they are about to cause great harm to other people in their actions.
Lenny Vasbinder
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Are Congressmen Hypocrites Or Are Banking CEO's Spineless???
While catching glimpses of Fox News Channel today, I got the ear-wrenching opportunity to hear a snip of the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the way the banks spent the first part of the TARP money.
Part of this snip entailed an exchange between an unidentified Congressman and some unidentified banking CEO's where the Congressman was asking the banking executives to raise their hands if their banks owned or leased private jets. I think all of the them did... duh! This Congressman then went on to chastise them for running their companies into the ground, taking bailout money (which are really loans, not outright bailouts) from the taxpayers and then having the gall to fly around in these outrageously priced private jets. These CEO's... who are supposed to be strong willed, aggressive leaders sat humbly and took this chastising... much to my chagrin.
I kept hoping and praying that at least one of these CEO's would grow a pair of gonads and stand up and turn the tables on Congress. This is what is should have sounded like....
"So Mr. Congressman, you all and the current CEO and former CEO of your company have run it into the ground over the past eight years by not balancing your budget, spending recklessly and wastefully, borrowing money from any one who would lend it to you and even in the past month have proposed overspending another couple of trillion dollars in money you will have to borrow and pass on in debt to generations to come... and where has your CEO been the past couple of days? Flying around in the most expensive private jet in America... Air Force One. That's right Mr. Congressman... neither Congress nor the President, for the past eight years has balanced the budget and yet you all go around spending money like it's coming out your wazoo and personally, I think you should go blow it out your ass instead!" (And then the CEO walks out of Congress having delivered them a bit of truth that nobody else is willing to tell them!)
The next CEO could get up and add to the chastising of Congress by informing them that it was Congress that gave them the TARP money with no strings attached and that if Congress thought they were so almighty, why didn't they have the forethought to include stipulations to go with the acceptance of TARP money?
Each of the succeeding CEO's could pile on the chastising of Congress and then walk out and tell Congress to kiss their respective asses while they walked out the door.
What could Congress do? If they don't give the banks more TARP money, they'll be biting off their noses to spite their faces because Congress already preached to the people that if they didn't do this, the world would come to an end.
I'm not sure about all other Americans, but I would be far more willing to invest in the stock of a bank where the CEO isn't a dribbling coward and I'm betting that first CEO that started this Congressional chastising would see his company's stock rise dramatically as word spread of the heroism shown. Heck.. he might even take over Sully's spotlight! ;-)
Lenny Vasbinder
February 11, 2009
Part of this snip entailed an exchange between an unidentified Congressman and some unidentified banking CEO's where the Congressman was asking the banking executives to raise their hands if their banks owned or leased private jets. I think all of the them did... duh! This Congressman then went on to chastise them for running their companies into the ground, taking bailout money (which are really loans, not outright bailouts) from the taxpayers and then having the gall to fly around in these outrageously priced private jets. These CEO's... who are supposed to be strong willed, aggressive leaders sat humbly and took this chastising... much to my chagrin.
I kept hoping and praying that at least one of these CEO's would grow a pair of gonads and stand up and turn the tables on Congress. This is what is should have sounded like....
"So Mr. Congressman, you all and the current CEO and former CEO of your company have run it into the ground over the past eight years by not balancing your budget, spending recklessly and wastefully, borrowing money from any one who would lend it to you and even in the past month have proposed overspending another couple of trillion dollars in money you will have to borrow and pass on in debt to generations to come... and where has your CEO been the past couple of days? Flying around in the most expensive private jet in America... Air Force One. That's right Mr. Congressman... neither Congress nor the President, for the past eight years has balanced the budget and yet you all go around spending money like it's coming out your wazoo and personally, I think you should go blow it out your ass instead!" (And then the CEO walks out of Congress having delivered them a bit of truth that nobody else is willing to tell them!)
The next CEO could get up and add to the chastising of Congress by informing them that it was Congress that gave them the TARP money with no strings attached and that if Congress thought they were so almighty, why didn't they have the forethought to include stipulations to go with the acceptance of TARP money?
Each of the succeeding CEO's could pile on the chastising of Congress and then walk out and tell Congress to kiss their respective asses while they walked out the door.
What could Congress do? If they don't give the banks more TARP money, they'll be biting off their noses to spite their faces because Congress already preached to the people that if they didn't do this, the world would come to an end.
I'm not sure about all other Americans, but I would be far more willing to invest in the stock of a bank where the CEO isn't a dribbling coward and I'm betting that first CEO that started this Congressional chastising would see his company's stock rise dramatically as word spread of the heroism shown. Heck.. he might even take over Sully's spotlight! ;-)
Lenny Vasbinder
February 11, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Blago and the Media: Impeachment is NOT a trial
I keep seeing Blagojevich and some media anchors saying that Blago is not getting a fair "trial" at his impeachment since he is not able to call witnesses. At first, due to my legal background, I was actually having the same kinds of thoughts but then it popped into my head recently that when someone is about to be fired, they don't get to call witnesses. An impeachment is just a fancy name for being fired. Here's an email that I sent to Geraldo and Greta Van Susteren since I watch Fox News Channel on a regular basis and these two are proponents of Blago being able to call witnesses....
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:18 PM
To: 'Atlarge@foxnews.com', 'ontherecord@foxnews.com'
Subject: Governor Blago...
Geraldo & Greta,
At first I was with you in thinking that Blago should be able to call witnesses, etc., at his impeachment but as I thought about it more, the impeachment is not a civil or criminal trial (where he can be fined, get a financial judgment or be imprisoned), but rather like a Board Meeting where the board is debating on whether to fire the CEO of a company... In this case, the Illinois State Senate is the Board and Blago is the CEO. A "normal" CEO doesn't have any right to call witnesses, etc., when he is about to be fired, so why should Blago???
Sincerely,
Lenny Vasbinder
So... am I right or are all of the talking heads and lawyers right???
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:18 PM
To: 'Atlarge@foxnews.com', 'ontherecord@foxnews.com'
Subject: Governor Blago...
Geraldo & Greta,
At first I was with you in thinking that Blago should be able to call witnesses, etc., at his impeachment but as I thought about it more, the impeachment is not a civil or criminal trial (where he can be fined, get a financial judgment or be imprisoned), but rather like a Board Meeting where the board is debating on whether to fire the CEO of a company... In this case, the Illinois State Senate is the Board and Blago is the CEO. A "normal" CEO doesn't have any right to call witnesses, etc., when he is about to be fired, so why should Blago???
Sincerely,
Lenny Vasbinder
So... am I right or are all of the talking heads and lawyers right???
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Toggle Flash - A very good and simple and FREE solution for Adobe Flash IE freeze-up problems
Recently, while helping someone in the PCPitstop.com forums, where they were having problems with IE (Internet Explorer) freezing up, I let them know that the likely cause was Adobe Flash 10, which came out late last year (2008) and has been causing IE freeze-ups to many users. I directed them to a few other threads in the MS forums and even the Adobe Flash forums. They reported back and thanked me for telling them about Toggle Flash... but unfortunately, up until they thanked me, I had never heard of Toggle Flash before. I went and read the threads that I had directed them to and further in the threads, another poster mentioned Toggle Flash as a simple solution to the Adobe Flash freeze up problems.
It's a simple add-on to IE and with the click of a button, you can turn off the Adobe Flash add-on and then surf to your heart's content without seeing any Flash advertisements or see your IE, possibly with many tabs open, freeze up and then you lose all of your open tabs before you had a chance to read or save those pages as favorites... this has happened to me many times and then I'd have to go into my IE History and recreate my searches.
Anyhow... I decided to read up on Toggle Flash a little and then I installed it a couple of days ago from the main site at http://flash.melameth.com/togflash.html.
Here is what I've had to say about it so far in forums and emails to the developer of Toggle Flash, Daniel Melameth. I should note that he was very quick to reply to my email inquiry also!!!
FIVE STARS for that!!!
----------------
"(rgsmile @ 8:39pm Mon Jan 5 2009)
Thanks. The link, in LennyVNOLA's previous response , (I am now using Toggle Flash (freeware add-on for IE7) quite successfully: http://flash.melameth.com/ might be worth a look for me and others. Thanks to all that responded.
rgsmile"
My reply to rgsmile....
Well... after IE froze up on me last night with a lot of tabs that I did a lot of work to find and hadn't saved yet... thank God for the History search.... but anyhow.. I went ahead and downloaded and installed Toggle Flash and haven't had an IE freeze up today and I've done some serious surfing today.
The only negative thing that I can say about Toggle Flash is that it doesn't tell you whether it's off or on so you have to go to your favorite YouTube or other known flash site to see if you left it off or on before you do your major surfing so you don't get surprised with a freeze up.
I'm going to email the author of Toggle Flash and see if there's a way for the icon to display whether Toggle Flash has it turned off or on.
I did have to go into my View Menu, then Toolbars and unlock the toolbars, then close and reopen IE to get the Toggle Flash Icon to show up which the main site explains about anyhow. You might also have to go into your Manage Add-ons and enable it if you have your settings to block add-ons.
Another thing that happens... at least with me.. is each time I do a Toggle Flash, I get a little black Command Prompt window that pops up and then disappears. I didn't check the Toggle Flash site but I guess this is normal.
It works for me so far after 18 hours of power surfing.
Lenny V.
------------------
Here are my emails to/from the creator of Toggle Flash...
January 7, 2009
Daniel@Melameth...
I just started Toggle Flash and I'm glad to be free of IE freeze ups caused by quirky Flash programming.
I have a couple of questions...
Is the Toggle Flash button on the IE toolbar supposed to indicate if TF has Flash turned on or off? Is there a way other than to test it to see which mode it is in? For now, I've been just going to YouTube to check and see which mode I left it in but it would be nice to know at a glance.
Thanks for a good product.
Lenny Vasbinder
------------------
His reply....
January 7, 2009
Hey Lenny,
Unfortunately, at this time, the toolbar button just activates the toggle feature--is it not an indicator of the status of Flash. This is on my list of things to do for a future version of Toggle Flash, but Toggle Flash is extremely simple right now and getting the toolbar button to change based on the status of Flash is, actually, far more complex. As for determining the status of Flash, if you go to a page with Flash content, but Flash is disabled, IE will notify you of this in the Status Bar on the bottom of the page with an image of a little red no sign on top of a little silver cog--which is made to represent an Add-On that the site is trying to use is disabled.
I tend to always browse with Flash disabled, and only enable it when I specifically want it, so determining the state of Flash is somewhat easier for me in this case, but this is, by far, the most requested feature of Toggle Flash and I'm definitely taking it into account.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on Toggle Flash.
Cheers,
Daniel
------------
In February, 2009, Daniel sent me an email notifying me of some upgrades that were made. Here is his email.
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Melameth
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:58 PM
To: 'NHSNOLA'
Subject: RE: Toggle Flash
Lenny,
I remembered your email and thought I'd drop you a little note to tell you I recently made a minor update to Toggle Flash to address a compatibility issue with IE8 and, while I was here, I also changed the executable so that it no longer opens a Command Prompt window when clicked. As such, feel free to download the updated installer from the site. In addition, it appears Microsoft has given IE8 the ability to control which sites can use a specific add-on and I'm considering leveraging this feature for a future version of Toggle Flash.
Sincerely,
Daniel
It's a simple add-on to IE and with the click of a button, you can turn off the Adobe Flash add-on and then surf to your heart's content without seeing any Flash advertisements or see your IE, possibly with many tabs open, freeze up and then you lose all of your open tabs before you had a chance to read or save those pages as favorites... this has happened to me many times and then I'd have to go into my IE History and recreate my searches.
Anyhow... I decided to read up on Toggle Flash a little and then I installed it a couple of days ago from the main site at http://flash.melameth.com/togflash.html.
Here is what I've had to say about it so far in forums and emails to the developer of Toggle Flash, Daniel Melameth. I should note that he was very quick to reply to my email inquiry also!!!
FIVE STARS for that!!!
----------------
"(rgsmile @ 8:39pm Mon Jan 5 2009)
Thanks. The link, in LennyVNOLA's previous response , (I am now using Toggle Flash (freeware add-on for IE7) quite successfully: http://flash.melameth.com/ might be worth a look for me and others. Thanks to all that responded.
rgsmile"
My reply to rgsmile....
Well... after IE froze up on me last night with a lot of tabs that I did a lot of work to find and hadn't saved yet... thank God for the History search.... but anyhow.. I went ahead and downloaded and installed Toggle Flash and haven't had an IE freeze up today and I've done some serious surfing today.
The only negative thing that I can say about Toggle Flash is that it doesn't tell you whether it's off or on so you have to go to your favorite YouTube or other known flash site to see if you left it off or on before you do your major surfing so you don't get surprised with a freeze up.
I'm going to email the author of Toggle Flash and see if there's a way for the icon to display whether Toggle Flash has it turned off or on.
I did have to go into my View Menu, then Toolbars and unlock the toolbars, then close and reopen IE to get the Toggle Flash Icon to show up which the main site explains about anyhow. You might also have to go into your Manage Add-ons and enable it if you have your settings to block add-ons.
Another thing that happens... at least with me.. is each time I do a Toggle Flash, I get a little black Command Prompt window that pops up and then disappears. I didn't check the Toggle Flash site but I guess this is normal.
It works for me so far after 18 hours of power surfing.
Lenny V.
------------------
Here are my emails to/from the creator of Toggle Flash...
January 7, 2009
Daniel@Melameth...
I just started Toggle Flash and I'm glad to be free of IE freeze ups caused by quirky Flash programming.
I have a couple of questions...
Is the Toggle Flash button on the IE toolbar supposed to indicate if TF has Flash turned on or off? Is there a way other than to test it to see which mode it is in? For now, I've been just going to YouTube to check and see which mode I left it in but it would be nice to know at a glance.
Thanks for a good product.
Lenny Vasbinder
------------------
His reply....
January 7, 2009
Hey Lenny,
Unfortunately, at this time, the toolbar button just activates the toggle feature--is it not an indicator of the status of Flash. This is on my list of things to do for a future version of Toggle Flash, but Toggle Flash is extremely simple right now and getting the toolbar button to change based on the status of Flash is, actually, far more complex. As for determining the status of Flash, if you go to a page with Flash content, but Flash is disabled, IE will notify you of this in the Status Bar on the bottom of the page with an image of a little red no sign on top of a little silver cog--which is made to represent an Add-On that the site is trying to use is disabled.
I tend to always browse with Flash disabled, and only enable it when I specifically want it, so determining the state of Flash is somewhat easier for me in this case, but this is, by far, the most requested feature of Toggle Flash and I'm definitely taking it into account.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on Toggle Flash.
Cheers,
Daniel
------------
In February, 2009, Daniel sent me an email notifying me of some upgrades that were made. Here is his email.
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Melameth
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:58 PM
To: 'NHSNOLA'
Subject: RE: Toggle Flash
Lenny,
I remembered your email and thought I'd drop you a little note to tell you I recently made a minor update to Toggle Flash to address a compatibility issue with IE8 and, while I was here, I also changed the executable so that it no longer opens a Command Prompt window when clicked. As such, feel free to download the updated installer from the site. In addition, it appears Microsoft has given IE8 the ability to control which sites can use a specific add-on and I'm considering leveraging this feature for a future version of Toggle Flash.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Monday, November 10, 2008
Lenny Vasbinder For President 2012 - My reply to JohnMcCain.com's Thank You email
-----Original Message-----
From: NHSNOLA [mailto:nhsnola@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 10:56 AM
To: 'Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager'
Subject: RE: Thank you
Here's my reply to MY republican party and the McCain campaign.
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2008/11/lenny-vasbinder-for-president-in-2012.html (Lenny Vasbinder For President 2012)
I'm SOOOOO disgusted by the so-called McCain insiders who are trashing Gov. Palin. If I knew who they were, I'd hang them up by their balls in a public square.. but we know they don't have any balls since they want to trash her anonymously.
I'll never give another penny to McCain but Gov. Palin will get my money if she runs in 2012. I only gave money to McCain's campaign after he picked
Gov. Palin and then to see his "upper level" members (as reported by Fox
News) trashing Gov. Palin... it just sickens me. A bunch of F-ing, useless
scumbag cowards!!!!
Now here's some "Straight Talk" for you... and if you find out who the
scumbags are, kindly... well, not so kindly, shove my email up their
pathetic asses.
Lenny Vasbinder
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and
files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it
can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager [mailto:rickdavis@johnmccain.com]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 9:58 AM
To: nhsnola@gmail.com
Subject: Thank you
McCain Team,
You should all be incredibly proud.
I am sincerely grateful to all of our supporters, volunteers and staff for
the tireless effort you put into John McCain's and Sarah Palin's
Presidential Campaign. Despite the enormous headwinds we encountered, our organization and supporters remained resolute. We fought the good fight.
Our political organization, staffed by thousands of unpaid volunteers all
over the country made tens of millions of phone calls and door knocks in the final weeks of the campaign, setting all time voter contact records for our party. Our cooperation with the Republican National Committee and state parties was historic, combining to be the strongest organization our party has ever seen. Our fundraising support also set records with over a million donors contributing what they could to support John McCain.
Everyone that was involved in this organization should be very proud of your efforts. We came together as a family, with a single purpose; to put our county first and get John McCain elected President. To the millions of
people that came to our rallies, made phone calls, knocked on doors,
forwarded emails, contributed a few dollars, put a bumper sticker on your
car and became dedicated advocates for John McCain - Thank You. You have my deepest gratitude for your efforts and support.
Sincerely,
Rick Davis
Campaign Manager
_____
_____
avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com/> : Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 081110-0, 11/10/2008
Tested on: 11/10/2008 1:57:20 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software.
From: NHSNOLA [mailto:nhsnola@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 10:56 AM
To: 'Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager'
Subject: RE: Thank you
Here's my reply to MY republican party and the McCain campaign.
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2008/11/lenny-vasbinder-for-president-in-2012.html (Lenny Vasbinder For President 2012)
I'm SOOOOO disgusted by the so-called McCain insiders who are trashing Gov. Palin. If I knew who they were, I'd hang them up by their balls in a public square.. but we know they don't have any balls since they want to trash her anonymously.
I'll never give another penny to McCain but Gov. Palin will get my money if she runs in 2012. I only gave money to McCain's campaign after he picked
Gov. Palin and then to see his "upper level" members (as reported by Fox
News) trashing Gov. Palin... it just sickens me. A bunch of F-ing, useless
scumbag cowards!!!!
Now here's some "Straight Talk" for you... and if you find out who the
scumbags are, kindly... well, not so kindly, shove my email up their
pathetic asses.
Lenny Vasbinder
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and
files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it
can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager [mailto:rickdavis@johnmccain.com]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 9:58 AM
To: nhsnola@gmail.com
Subject: Thank you
McCain Team,
You should all be incredibly proud.
I am sincerely grateful to all of our supporters, volunteers and staff for
the tireless effort you put into John McCain's and Sarah Palin's
Presidential Campaign. Despite the enormous headwinds we encountered, our organization and supporters remained resolute. We fought the good fight.
Our political organization, staffed by thousands of unpaid volunteers all
over the country made tens of millions of phone calls and door knocks in the final weeks of the campaign, setting all time voter contact records for our party. Our cooperation with the Republican National Committee and state parties was historic, combining to be the strongest organization our party has ever seen. Our fundraising support also set records with over a million donors contributing what they could to support John McCain.
Everyone that was involved in this organization should be very proud of your efforts. We came together as a family, with a single purpose; to put our county first and get John McCain elected President. To the millions of
people that came to our rallies, made phone calls, knocked on doors,
forwarded emails, contributed a few dollars, put a bumper sticker on your
car and became dedicated advocates for John McCain - Thank You. You have my deepest gratitude for your efforts and support.
Sincerely,
Rick Davis
Campaign Manager
_____
_____
avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com/> : Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 081110-0, 11/10/2008
Tested on: 11/10/2008 1:57:20 PM
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2008 ALWIL Software.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Lenny Vasbinder For President In 2012
Yes... you read it here first! (Well, maybe 2nd or 3rd.. lol)
I am hereby announcing my intention to run for President of the United States Of America in 2012.
Now you may ask... why???? Read all of the below to find out why!
It started over the past few months as I answered forum posts concerning politics. Then today, November 5, 2008, I got the following email from a distant friend which led to this announcement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Pam S.
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:05 PM
To: Lenny Vasbinder
Subject: Election blues =(
What a tragic night. I felt like hurling myself off a bridge, but unfortunately my town is pretty flat. I heard someone on the t.v. a while back predicting that if Obama is elected, the stock market will dive-bomb in January. I'm seriously entertaining the idea of removing my stash while there's still something there.
Pam S.
MN
My reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:36 PM
To: Pam S.
Subject: RE: Election blues =(
Why did you send this off-list?
At least us Southerners (except Florida... but those are mostly displaced Yankees and Hispanics anyhow) backed John McCain... what happened to all you damned Yankees... are ya'll suffering from brain-freeze??? LOL
Well, the good news is that hopefully the Republicans will get off their asses and start doing things right. We only have our elected Republican officials to blame.... they acted too much like Democrats the past seven years since Newt Gingrich left Congress.
President Bush, as much as I like him, didn't veto a single wasteful spending bill in eight years. Republican lawmakers racked up as many wasteful earmarks as their liberal Democrat counterparts in Congress.
They didn't do anything about the growing national debt, balancing the budget, the oil/gas situation (until President Bush finally lifted the executive order banning offshore drilling a couple of months ago), etc. What about eight years ago? If he had done it then, we'd have oil flowing out the wazoo right now and we wouldn't be sending $700 BILLION a year to outside suppliers. Over the course of eight years, that's $5.6 TRILLION that went to other countries instead of building up our own economy. Think of all the good paying oil industry jobs that would have been created in the past eight years.
Nothing was done about Nuclear power in the past eight years either. If both of these things had been done.. or at least publicly and loudly attempted, then the Dem's wouldn't be basting in joy right now and the Republicans wouldn't have lost control of Congress in 2006 and we would have kept the Presidency also since the economy wouldn't have been an issue.
The other good thing about Obama is that he will likely run the country into the ground, like Jimmy Carter did, so four years from now, hopefully a Sarah Palin or other charismatic conservative (like a Ronald Reagan) will emerge and lead the country back to prosperity, energy independence, etc.
We know Obama isn't going to allow any drilling, nuclear power plants, oil refineries, etc., and he'll put restrictions on coal fired electric plants and restrictions on the auto industry so the country will likely go to hell in a hand basket in the next four years but things can only get better after hitting rock bottom again like it did after Jimmy Carter's four years with double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, double digit interest rates, gas shortages, fuel oil shortages, etc. God only knows how badly the Dem's will decimate the military in the next four years so we can look forward to more terrorist attacks.
Heck.. I might even run for the Presidency in 2012. If Obama can get elected with absolutely NO experience, then I should be able to also... but at least I've run my own biz for the past 20 years. He never ran anything in his life.
I can assure you though.. I'll bring CHANGE to Washington.
That means a balanced budget the first year and an eight year plan to pay off the national debt so there will be severe cuts in the size of wasteful government programs but there will also be severe tax cuts so Americans will have much more of their own money to keep.
Heck.. considering I just wrote this off the cuff, I might have to post it on my political blog. I'll leave your info off the blog though.
Lenny Vasbinder
Then Pam replied:
From: Pam S.
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:45 PM
To: Lenny Vasbinder
Subject: RE: Election blues =(
I wrote this off-list b/c it has nothing to do with the group and I didn't want to piss anyone off. Thanks for answering - you would definitely have my vote. Instead of bringing a puppy to the white house, you could bring fish =)
-Pam
And my reply:
Can't I have both?
But I wouldn't be in the White House. My first thing, to start cutting the waste in Washington, would be to turn the White House into a profitable National Museum and I'd live in a small apartment nearby and I'm sure it would be free since after I leave office, they'd be able to rent it out on the marketplace as "Lenny lived here once!" LOL
Same for AirForce One... a museum. And then I'd let the regular airlines bid on which one wants to be the "Official" Presidential airline and they'd pay millions a year to the taxpayers rather than the taxpayers paying millions a year for AirForce One.
Unlike Obama.. I'd be bringing REAL change to Washington.
Hopefully, I won't be assassinated in the first few months, by disgruntled Congressmen when I slash their budgets accordingly. They'll be relegated back to working out of their homes or a small office in their district... no more multiple homes and multiple offices paid for by the taxpayers.
Uh OH.. I'm on a roll now. LOL
Lenny Vasbinder in 2012!!!!!
Shortly after this series of emails between Pam and I, I got a "Thank You" email from GOP.com thanking me for my support of McCain-Palin and other Republicans... and here is that email and my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Chairman Robert M. 'Mike' Duncan [mailto:ecampaign@gop.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 4:45 PM
To: nhsnola@gmail.com
Subject: Thank You
Dear Leonard,
On behalf of Senator McCain, Governor Palin, and all our GOP candidates, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to you for your generous support of the Republican National Committee this presidential election year.
Though we fell short of our goal of retaining the White House in a very difficult political environment, I'm grateful for the strong effort you made on our Party's behalf.
As Chairman, I'm confident our Party will be back stronger than ever in elections to come as we work to promote policies that make America safer and more prosperous. I look forward to continuing our work together and rebuilding our Party to meet the challenges ahead.
Best Wishes,
Robert M. "Mike" Duncan
Chairman, Republican National Committee
________________________________
Republican National Committee 310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
p: 202.863.8500 f: 202.863.8820 e: info@gop.com
Paid for by the Republican National Committee.
310 First Street, SE - Washington, D.C. 20003 - (202) 863-8500 http://www.blogger.com/www.gop.com <http://www.gop.com/> Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
And my reply:
Robert,
I haven't donated any money to the GOP for the past seven years because I haven't been very happy with the President not cutting the waste out of Washington and then allowing Congress to spend our tax dollars like they had money coming out their asses.
I did finally give my first $100.00 donation to McCain-Palin after he chose Gov. Sarah Palin. I also gave another $100.00 to the GOPTrust PAC for running ads about Rev. Wright and I still have no clue why you all didn't show Obama for what he really was all along.
I WILL NOT be giving any more money to any Republican's (and definitely not to any Dem's) until I see another Republican Revolution of the likes led by Newt Gingrich. If all of the Republicans are too spineless to start doing the right thing, they you all deserve to keep getting your asses handed to you on a silver platter (probably paid for by our tax dollars via an earmark... lying-assed politicians are pretty pathetic!!!)
This may be too little too late... but here is where the Republican party went wrong in the past eight years... in my opinion and this is what I wrote to my email list today and will be posting to my blog... in response to an email that I received from a friend...
See you in 2012... Lenny Vasbinder For President 2012!!!!
I am hereby announcing my intention to run for President of the United States Of America in 2012.
Now you may ask... why???? Read all of the below to find out why!
It started over the past few months as I answered forum posts concerning politics. Then today, November 5, 2008, I got the following email from a distant friend which led to this announcement.
-----Original Message-----
From: Pam S.
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:05 PM
To: Lenny Vasbinder
Subject: Election blues =(
What a tragic night. I felt like hurling myself off a bridge, but unfortunately my town is pretty flat. I heard someone on the t.v. a while back predicting that if Obama is elected, the stock market will dive-bomb in January. I'm seriously entertaining the idea of removing my stash while there's still something there.
Pam S.
MN
My reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:36 PM
To: Pam S.
Subject: RE: Election blues =(
Why did you send this off-list?
At least us Southerners (except Florida... but those are mostly displaced Yankees and Hispanics anyhow) backed John McCain... what happened to all you damned Yankees... are ya'll suffering from brain-freeze??? LOL
Well, the good news is that hopefully the Republicans will get off their asses and start doing things right. We only have our elected Republican officials to blame.... they acted too much like Democrats the past seven years since Newt Gingrich left Congress.
President Bush, as much as I like him, didn't veto a single wasteful spending bill in eight years. Republican lawmakers racked up as many wasteful earmarks as their liberal Democrat counterparts in Congress.
They didn't do anything about the growing national debt, balancing the budget, the oil/gas situation (until President Bush finally lifted the executive order banning offshore drilling a couple of months ago), etc. What about eight years ago? If he had done it then, we'd have oil flowing out the wazoo right now and we wouldn't be sending $700 BILLION a year to outside suppliers. Over the course of eight years, that's $5.6 TRILLION that went to other countries instead of building up our own economy. Think of all the good paying oil industry jobs that would have been created in the past eight years.
Nothing was done about Nuclear power in the past eight years either. If both of these things had been done.. or at least publicly and loudly attempted, then the Dem's wouldn't be basting in joy right now and the Republicans wouldn't have lost control of Congress in 2006 and we would have kept the Presidency also since the economy wouldn't have been an issue.
The other good thing about Obama is that he will likely run the country into the ground, like Jimmy Carter did, so four years from now, hopefully a Sarah Palin or other charismatic conservative (like a Ronald Reagan) will emerge and lead the country back to prosperity, energy independence, etc.
We know Obama isn't going to allow any drilling, nuclear power plants, oil refineries, etc., and he'll put restrictions on coal fired electric plants and restrictions on the auto industry so the country will likely go to hell in a hand basket in the next four years but things can only get better after hitting rock bottom again like it did after Jimmy Carter's four years with double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, double digit interest rates, gas shortages, fuel oil shortages, etc. God only knows how badly the Dem's will decimate the military in the next four years so we can look forward to more terrorist attacks.
Heck.. I might even run for the Presidency in 2012. If Obama can get elected with absolutely NO experience, then I should be able to also... but at least I've run my own biz for the past 20 years. He never ran anything in his life.
I can assure you though.. I'll bring CHANGE to Washington.
That means a balanced budget the first year and an eight year plan to pay off the national debt so there will be severe cuts in the size of wasteful government programs but there will also be severe tax cuts so Americans will have much more of their own money to keep.
Heck.. considering I just wrote this off the cuff, I might have to post it on my political blog. I'll leave your info off the blog though.
Lenny Vasbinder
Then Pam replied:
From: Pam S.
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:45 PM
To: Lenny Vasbinder
Subject: RE: Election blues =(
I wrote this off-list b/c it has nothing to do with the group and I didn't want to piss anyone off. Thanks for answering - you would definitely have my vote. Instead of bringing a puppy to the white house, you could bring fish =)
-Pam
And my reply:
Can't I have both?
But I wouldn't be in the White House. My first thing, to start cutting the waste in Washington, would be to turn the White House into a profitable National Museum and I'd live in a small apartment nearby and I'm sure it would be free since after I leave office, they'd be able to rent it out on the marketplace as "Lenny lived here once!" LOL
Same for AirForce One... a museum. And then I'd let the regular airlines bid on which one wants to be the "Official" Presidential airline and they'd pay millions a year to the taxpayers rather than the taxpayers paying millions a year for AirForce One.
Unlike Obama.. I'd be bringing REAL change to Washington.
Hopefully, I won't be assassinated in the first few months, by disgruntled Congressmen when I slash their budgets accordingly. They'll be relegated back to working out of their homes or a small office in their district... no more multiple homes and multiple offices paid for by the taxpayers.
Uh OH.. I'm on a roll now. LOL
Lenny Vasbinder in 2012!!!!!
Shortly after this series of emails between Pam and I, I got a "Thank You" email from GOP.com thanking me for my support of McCain-Palin and other Republicans... and here is that email and my reply:
-----Original Message-----
From: Chairman Robert M. 'Mike' Duncan [mailto:ecampaign@gop.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 4:45 PM
To: nhsnola@gmail.com
Subject: Thank You
Dear Leonard,
On behalf of Senator McCain, Governor Palin, and all our GOP candidates, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to you for your generous support of the Republican National Committee this presidential election year.
Though we fell short of our goal of retaining the White House in a very difficult political environment, I'm grateful for the strong effort you made on our Party's behalf.
As Chairman, I'm confident our Party will be back stronger than ever in elections to come as we work to promote policies that make America safer and more prosperous. I look forward to continuing our work together and rebuilding our Party to meet the challenges ahead.
Best Wishes,
Robert M. "Mike" Duncan
Chairman, Republican National Committee
________________________________
Republican National Committee 310 First Street, SE Washington, D.C. 20003
p: 202.863.8500 f: 202.863.8820 e: info@gop.com
Paid for by the Republican National Committee.
310 First Street, SE - Washington, D.C. 20003 - (202) 863-8500 http://www.blogger.com/www.gop.com <http://www.gop.com/> Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
And my reply:
Robert,
I haven't donated any money to the GOP for the past seven years because I haven't been very happy with the President not cutting the waste out of Washington and then allowing Congress to spend our tax dollars like they had money coming out their asses.
I did finally give my first $100.00 donation to McCain-Palin after he chose Gov. Sarah Palin. I also gave another $100.00 to the GOPTrust PAC for running ads about Rev. Wright and I still have no clue why you all didn't show Obama for what he really was all along.
I WILL NOT be giving any more money to any Republican's (and definitely not to any Dem's) until I see another Republican Revolution of the likes led by Newt Gingrich. If all of the Republicans are too spineless to start doing the right thing, they you all deserve to keep getting your asses handed to you on a silver platter (probably paid for by our tax dollars via an earmark... lying-assed politicians are pretty pathetic!!!)
This may be too little too late... but here is where the Republican party went wrong in the past eight years... in my opinion and this is what I wrote to my email list today and will be posting to my blog... in response to an email that I received from a friend...
See you in 2012... Lenny Vasbinder For President 2012!!!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Adventures With Windows Vista Home Premium From An XP User
I bought a new laptop last night with Windows Vista Home Premium and the first thing one should do with a new computer and uninstall all of the junk software that comes pre-loaded on most new computers.. like Norton Internet Security, etc. After that, then it's time to install all of the security software that one needs... like an antivirus (I downloaded Avast Free edition), antispyware (I'm giving Windows Defender another try since it came pre-loaded) besides the main antispyware that runs in the background (WD in my current case) like Spyware Blaster from Javacool.com, Spybot - Search & Destroy from Safernetworking.com and Ad-Aware. Then all of them have to be updated and properly installed. Then add a free firewall... my current firewall of choice... Comodo Firewall Pro.
My first adventure was with Spybot when it wouldn't let me immunize my system saying I didn't have administrator rights... although I do and I'm the only user on the laptop. After doing a little Googling, I found a Spybot forum thread http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=19135 but trying the things listed there didn't work for me either. Finally, after looking around and based on the things I read in that thread, I decided to right click on the Start Menu - All Programs - Spybot start and chose Properties. Then in one of the tabs in Properties, I was able to put a check mark in Run As Administrator and that fixed Spybot.
I'll edit and add more to this post as I come across more "Adventures".
Lenny Vasbinder
http://www.neighborhoodhomeservices.com/
My first adventure was with Spybot when it wouldn't let me immunize my system saying I didn't have administrator rights... although I do and I'm the only user on the laptop. After doing a little Googling, I found a Spybot forum thread http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=19135 but trying the things listed there didn't work for me either. Finally, after looking around and based on the things I read in that thread, I decided to right click on the Start Menu - All Programs - Spybot start and chose Properties. Then in one of the tabs in Properties, I was able to put a check mark in Run As Administrator and that fixed Spybot.
I'll edit and add more to this post as I come across more "Adventures".
Lenny Vasbinder
http://www.neighborhoodhomeservices.com/
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
How I ALWAYS do a clean install of Yahoo Messenger (YM) on Windows XP, With Updates For Vista And Windows 7
Notice - See my NEW computer ONLY blog at http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-i-always-do-clean-install-of-yahoo.html for the most up-to-date version of this article. Check out all of my other computer related blogs at http://LennyTheComputerGuy.blogspot.com
Edit/Update -
July 17, 2010 - Added "Quick-Steps" to the top of this post;
June 24, 2010 - added new location for Yupdater.exe file;
May 08, 2010 - added an email sent to someone with some info;
April 14, 2010 - fixed a link;
January 31, 2010 - to add more info about using Revo Uninstaller and to add info for Windows Vista and newer YM versions;
Many other updates prior.
Quick-Steps To Summarize The Below Information:
(NOTE: Create A Restore Point before each step if you are unsure of your computer tech abilities)
1. Uninstall Yahoo Messenger (YM) using the Revo Uninstaller. Save a copy of your Archives folder if you keep archives of your chat sessions. Turn off and re-start computer.
2. Run CCleaner Registry Cleaner (or WinASO or other legitimate registry cleaner)
3. Run Secunia Online Scanner to see if it finds any OLD remnants of YM.
4. Make sure you have updated versions of Adobe Flash Player and Sun's Java browser plugins for Internet Explorer, preferably version 8 (mainly for use in the Chat Rooms, not as much for YM)
5. Download a FULL sized version of YM from FileHippo.com or your preferred download site, to your desktop or preferred download folder.
6. Turn off and re-start your computer and make sure IE is working properly, including the Java and Flash sites.
7. Go to your downloaded FULL sized version of YM and run the .EXE file to start the installation. You may not want to install any toolbars or other add-ons that Yahoo may have included in the download. DO NOT RUN YM YET.
8. Move your copy of your archive folder back to where it should be.
9. Start up YM and go through all of the Preferences Menu setting things up how you like them since the above steps would have removed all of your previous settings.
10. Start IM'ing your friends, testing all of the features and go to Chat Rooms to make sure things are working well. If they aren't, leave me a comment below or go to the Yahoo Messenger Yahoo Group (link in next paragraph), join the group and post your questions there.
Also read http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2010/05/im-going-to-upgrade-to-yahoo-messenger.html where I documented my uninstall of YM 9.0 and upgrade to YM 10.0.
Following is a message and amendment that I posted in one of my Yahoo Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yahoo_Messenger, back in May 2007 but I've been meaning to post it to my blog as well so here it is about five months later! And I have updated this article many times since.
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:21 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: How I ALWAYS install Yahoo Messenger on Windows XP
Hi YM Group,
I thought I had done this before but after someone contacted me off list, I searched through the archives and couldn't find my post so I guess I've just added bits and pieces of this information in various replies over the years but here is how I prepare my computer before downloading a new version of Yahoo Messenger (YM).
Uninstall old version of YM using Add/Remove programs for the YM uninstaller. Reboot computer. OR BETTER YET, use the Revo Uninstaller and use it's default settings to find and remove a lot of the junk that the normal YM uninstaller leaves behind. http://www.revouninstaller.com/ Go through each step and delete the files and registry keys that it highlights and recommends except you might want to save a copy of your archived chats and other archived info as mentioned later in this article.
Reboot your computer after each step in this article.
Run a GOOD registry cleaner. I use and recommend WinASO Registry Optimizer http://www.winaso.com/download.htm which is FREE to download and use as long as you like, but the trial version has a limitation that is more of an annoyance than anything else, in that it tries to get you to pay for the unlimited version but if you don't mind dealing with the annoyance, it works as good as the paid version. I've been using the FREE trial version for several years since version 1.0. I've never had a single problem using it to clean and optimize my registry. The downside/annoyance of the free trial version is that it will only clean 10 items each time it is run. The first time you run it, you may find several hundred items that need to be fixed so you will have to run it dozens of times. OR BETTER YET, you can run CCleaner's Registry Cleaner option, http://www.ccleaner.com/, to get rid of most of the junk and then follow it up with WinASO to do a full cleaning since it does a better job than CCleaner. After that, if you run WinASO 1-2 times a week, it will be much quicker, easier and keep your computer from being bogged up as much with junk. After cleaning/fixing your registry, reboot your computer.
Another FREE registry cleaner is offered as an online scan from Microsoft by going to the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/cleanup.htm and run the Clean Up scan. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE ACTUAL ONECARE PROGRAM that is advertised on that page. It's not needed to use the free scans and it's not that great of a program anyhow... compared to other free security software that is out there.
Now download and SAVE (to "desktop" or your favorite file folder for saving things where you can find the download after you reboot) the full version of Yahoo Messenger from http://www.filehippo.com/download_yahoo_messenger/ or your favorite safe program download site. DO NOT chose "RUN" during the download and DO NOT RUN or execute the full version after it is downloaded. The full version of YM is around 10-15MB (depending on which version) in comparison to the Yahoo Messenger "official" installer that is only around 484kb when downloaded from http://messenger.yahoo.com/ I find that the Yahoo installer will have more problems especially if someone has a strong firewall or slow internet connection.
It's this "installer" version that causes so many problems, IMO. Because when you run it, it then starts downloading other bits and pieces of the program and if there are any glitches in your internet service or with Yahoo servers (and we all know there are those! ;-\), you can end up with a bad download with various bugs. When you download the full version from FileHippo or another download site, after you download it and get ready to run it, there should be Publisher listed, which should be Yahoo! Inc in a blue link which is to a digital verification site to verify that you have a legitimate version of the program. This works for most programs you may download although there are many that will not have this digital verification capability and when you go to execute one of these "unsigned" programs, you will get a little warning message on the box. If I know I downloaded the program from a reliable site, I don't worry about this but if you are not sure, you should never run a program without a digital signature attached. Many other programs have a way to run a check-sum on the download to make sure you got the download in full without errors but I've never seen this available with YM. Usually, if you have the digital signature, it means things went smoothly and you have a full version without errors.
If you use CCleaner, you should run it now to clean out your temporary files and TIF files. I am not going into all the aspects of CCleaner in this post but for most folks, it can be a problem to remove things they did not want cleaned if they do not go through and become very familiar with the program. It will clean auto-complete info, search history, cookies, etc., when used in the default mode. The CCleaner Registry Cleaner is OK to use in default mode but the rest of CCleaner should be understood before running or the user could lose information that they actually wanted to keep. This is why I like WinASO as a registry cleaner. Even a rookie can run the registry optimizer without causing problems to their computer... at least it's never caused me problems in hundreds of times of running it.
If you don't use CCleaner and did not use the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center Cleanup Scan, you should use your web-browser Tools to empty the TIF files. Then run a Search on your computer for all temporary files and remove them manually. If you don't know how to do this, then you should download CCleaner and become familiar with CCleaner and use it for this purpose or use the Windows Cleanup online scan. Feel free to ask me here and I'll tell you how I have my CCleaner set up to run it daily to keep the junk files off my computer.
Reboot the computer and leave all other programs turned off except for anti-virus and firewall.
Then, if you downloaded YM full version to your desktop, simply click on it to execute the program. If you have a firewall, you should get a pop-up asking for access, from the YM program installer, to the internet and other areas of your computer. Permit this and if you use an advanced firewall (which you should be using over the Windows Firewall which isn't very good), put a check mark in the box to allow it on a permanent basis. You can always go back to the firewall user interface and delete this permission later if you want to.
Choose the "CUSTOM" install instead of Yahoo's recommended install. This makes sure that all you install is YM and not all the other junk they try to get you to install like tool bars, etc. I choose CUSTOM install on ALL programs that I install on my computer to make sure I don't install junk I didn't want. The CUSTOM install still gives you the option to install other things but it doesn't force them on you without your knowledge. This is common practice on all FREE programs as a way to help them pay for their free program. Google, MSN, Yahoo and other companies pay to have their toolbars and desktop search programs included in the downloads. Reputable download sites and programs give you the option of opting out of these add-ons.
Now, once the YM program is installed on your computer. Reboot again.
Rebooting is important to computers as it's a way of letting the computer put everything back into place. If you are in the habit of leaving your computer on for days at a time, if you find it getting sluggish, a reboot will normally speed it back up again.
Now start up YM and go through your preferences, setting things to work how you like them. Become familiar with the Messenger Menus and the Preferences Menus and ask questions here about anything you may not understand.
The last thing that I do with any new install of YM is go into the C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger folder (or for version 10.x, the Yupdater.exe is now located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Yahoo!\YUpdater and find the file Yupdater.exe and change the name to Yupdater-NOT USED.exe. You can also use your firewall to simply block Yupdater.exe from connecting to the internet but many folks do not utilize their firewalls in an advanced mode so Yupdater.exe would have access unless you went into your firewall and blocked it. This way with changing the file name, your installed version of YM will not automatically update to any newer release of YM without your express consent as YM will not find the Yupdater.exe file when it tries to contact Yahoo like it will do on a regular basis if you don't block it or change the file name. YM 10.0x does have a section in the preferences that allows you to check off saying that you do not want YM to update automatically and I have that checked off but I still change the Yupdater.exe file as well.
If you decide you are not happy with your current version, you can then repeat the steps above and download a more recent version and install that version. I've found that allowing Yupdater.exe to connect to Yahoo, it constantly stays in contact with Yahoo whenever YM is in use. I've verified this with my firewall. I'm not sure why an updater process would need to stay in constant contact with the manufacturer. Even my Antivirus, Antispyware, etc., only contacts their updates once a day for new malware definitions. None of my other programs on my computer stays in constant contact for updates. They either run on a monthly basis or some other time interval. Certainly, Yahoo isn't releasing daily updates so YM should not need 100% access to Yahoo servers, IMO.
Hopefully, if all went well, your newly installed or reinstalled version of YM will be much more stable and cause less problems for you and you will not need to update to new versions as often.
I still run YM versions 8.1x, 9.1x and 10.0x and they are very stable on my computers compared to some of the stories I read about daily and with the people I help on a daily basis here and on other forums and my friends and neighbors that used the Yahoo Installer.
I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll probably put this on my blog with some screen shots of WinASO and CCleaner and how I have my CCleaner set up so it does not clean things some people actually want to keep and I'll post a link when I do.
Ooops. I almost forgot one step. It may not be critical but it could cause you to lose your archived chats if you have YM set to save them. Before uninstalling and cleaning up your computer with WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility, go to C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles\(your yahoo name)\Archive and copy both of the folders in the Archive folder. There should be a Conferences and a Messages folder. Just copy and save them to your desktop or your other favorite place to save things.
Usually, during an uninstall and reinstall of YM, these folders are left in place but in the past, if I had a buggy YM install, I would sometimes go and delete the entire Messenger folder (C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger) to make sure I get rid of all traces of the buggy version. By saving copies of the Archive folders, I can move them back into their proper place after a new clean install. If you go to this extreme of removing everything associated with YM, make sure you run WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility before doing the clean install of the new full version download.
Hope this helps!
Lenny Vasbinder
Here are the emails that I mentioned in the May 08, 2010 Update:
-----Original Message-----
From: J
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 10:46 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: I'm back!!
High Lenny,
Thanks for the 2 sites you gave me to uninstall and check for updates, really good ones.
I did the complete uninstall and downloaded the latest IM 10.x and the scan said it was perfect, it also picked up 3 earlier versions of yahoo that are lying in my registry that uninstall has not removed. How do I identify that and erase it?
I have copied the new IM 10.x to a flash drive and am going to uninstall the sytem again and reinstall after I have erased the old Im's, as I still have the same display problem at 480 x 800 ech time I log on. Added to that, my cam works on IM, but when I choose a room it won't connect, just says getting room list and stays dead, so it's got worse damnit.
Thats why I want to start fresh again, also I now get a add on notification on any site saying website wants Adobe flash player wants to be added on. I have okayed it and run it but nothing changes the system and it keeps on appearing.
I have also checked my add ons in tools and they are all enabled.
So once again, would you kindly give me your thoughts?
regards,
MORSELS / Jerry
And my REPLY:
-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 11:32 PM
To: 'J'; 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: I'm back!!
Hi Jerry,
See one of my previous replies. After you did the FULL install of YM, did you check the YahooMessenger.exe file Properties>Compatibility Tab, to make sure that you don't have a check mark in the display settings box? It shouldn't be but possibly one of your old versions has a registry key that is affecting the settings of your new download.
If that isn't the problem, I'm wondering if one of the old version or some registry remnant from one of the old version is messing things up in other ways.
Did you save the FULL download from http://www.filehippo.com/ (or your preferred download site)? If you saved it on your desktop or in a folder in your My Documents folder or however you have your computer organized, then there is no need to copy that to a flash drive. When you uninstall YM, it will not delete the file that you downloaded so after you clean things up, you can just click on that .exe file again and start the install process all over again.
When you uninstall YM 10.x, I would use the Revo Uninstaller and then follow the instructions with Revo to delete all of the leftover registry keys and program remnants. See my blog article for more details.
Then run the Secunia Online Scanner again and see if it finds any remnants of the old versions of YM. If it does, it will actually list the file path to where that remnant was found and you can just follow that file path and just highlight and delete the files. OR... after running Revo, you can just go to your C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger and delete the entire Messenger folder but you may want to go through that folder and only delete the things you do not want to keep. For example, I save my archived chats so I move those Archive folders to My Documents folder and then move them back to their proper place after I install a new version. For Windows XP, the Archive folder is in the above file path.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, the file path is:
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles\
If you feel comfortable fooling with your Registry, you could also search for Yahoo Messenger entries in your registry and clean them out manually, although I would use CCleaner's Registry Cleaner and then WinASO Registry Optimizer to look for and clean up any errant registry entries... and if you used Revo Uninstaller, it probably already got them all!
After things are all cleaned up, then do the installation again, check the Properties>Compatibility Tab to make sure nothing is checked there and if you are still having monitor issues, I would have to think it's one of the other problems with a driver that needs to be updated or rolled back. See my earlier reply for some of the other issues that caused monitor issues related to YM.
As far as Adobe Flash, once you've uninstalled it and removed the old remnants, using the same methods above, go to http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html and it will check your version and http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will show an animated flash video that says "Adobe Flash Player Successfully Installed" and then change to another Adobe related Ad. If you aren't updated or installed properly, go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ (you may want to uncheck the Google Toolbar thing... I NEVER install all of the add-on software that is often pushed from many free programs) Click on Agree And Install and follow the prompts to install Adobe. Prior to doing this, Secunia's Online scanner should have told you about out-dated Flash remnants and you can follow the file paths to delete the outdated flash files that were left over from previous installations.
As far as going to the rooms, I think you have to have Java installed. Did Secunia identify if you had Java installed and updated? If you didn't, get it here. http://www.java.com/getjava/ On that page, right below the Free Java Download button, there's a link to "Do I Have Java?" so you can check it first and that will also tell you if you have the latest version.
I probably need to add some of this info to my article on doing a FULL and CLEAN install of YM since Flash and Java are often needed with YM.
Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves, Opinions & Information)
CLICK THE LINK "YAHOO MESSENGER" UNDER THE LABELS SECTION TO THE LEFT FOR MORE OF MY BLOGS ABOUT YAHOO MESSENGER
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and
files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your
computer.
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.22/1112 - Release Date: 11/5/2007
7:11 PM
P.S. - I no longer use AVG Free but instead I use the FREE Comodo Internet Security Suite from http://www.comodo.com/ which includes a GREAT firewall, good antivirus and antimalware protection. Of course, I still do my weekly updates with Spybot's Immunize feater and SpywareBlaster and I still run regular scans with MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, a-Squared Free and various online scans to make sure Comodo is catching everything but for the most part, Comodo's suite is doing a good job and is a very low resource suite compared to other suites that I've used. I even use it on an OLD XP computer with only 384MB of RAM and can still run other high resource programs like Outlook 2003, Word 2003, IE8, etc.
Edit/Update -
July 17, 2010 - Added "Quick-Steps" to the top of this post;
June 24, 2010 - added new location for Yupdater.exe file;
May 08, 2010 - added an email sent to someone with some info;
April 14, 2010 - fixed a link;
January 31, 2010 - to add more info about using Revo Uninstaller and to add info for Windows Vista and newer YM versions;
Many other updates prior.
Quick-Steps To Summarize The Below Information:
(NOTE: Create A Restore Point before each step if you are unsure of your computer tech abilities)
1. Uninstall Yahoo Messenger (YM) using the Revo Uninstaller. Save a copy of your Archives folder if you keep archives of your chat sessions. Turn off and re-start computer.
2. Run CCleaner Registry Cleaner (or WinASO or other legitimate registry cleaner)
3. Run Secunia Online Scanner to see if it finds any OLD remnants of YM.
4. Make sure you have updated versions of Adobe Flash Player and Sun's Java browser plugins for Internet Explorer, preferably version 8 (mainly for use in the Chat Rooms, not as much for YM)
5. Download a FULL sized version of YM from FileHippo.com or your preferred download site, to your desktop or preferred download folder.
6. Turn off and re-start your computer and make sure IE is working properly, including the Java and Flash sites.
7. Go to your downloaded FULL sized version of YM and run the .EXE file to start the installation. You may not want to install any toolbars or other add-ons that Yahoo may have included in the download. DO NOT RUN YM YET.
8. Move your copy of your archive folder back to where it should be.
9. Start up YM and go through all of the Preferences Menu setting things up how you like them since the above steps would have removed all of your previous settings.
10. Start IM'ing your friends, testing all of the features and go to Chat Rooms to make sure things are working well. If they aren't, leave me a comment below or go to the Yahoo Messenger Yahoo Group (link in next paragraph), join the group and post your questions there.
Also read http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2010/05/im-going-to-upgrade-to-yahoo-messenger.html where I documented my uninstall of YM 9.0 and upgrade to YM 10.0.
Following is a message and amendment that I posted in one of my Yahoo Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yahoo_Messenger, back in May 2007 but I've been meaning to post it to my blog as well so here it is about five months later! And I have updated this article many times since.
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:21 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: How I ALWAYS install Yahoo Messenger on Windows XP
Hi YM Group,
I thought I had done this before but after someone contacted me off list, I searched through the archives and couldn't find my post so I guess I've just added bits and pieces of this information in various replies over the years but here is how I prepare my computer before downloading a new version of Yahoo Messenger (YM).
Uninstall old version of YM using Add/Remove programs for the YM uninstaller. Reboot computer. OR BETTER YET, use the Revo Uninstaller and use it's default settings to find and remove a lot of the junk that the normal YM uninstaller leaves behind. http://www.revouninstaller.com/ Go through each step and delete the files and registry keys that it highlights and recommends except you might want to save a copy of your archived chats and other archived info as mentioned later in this article.
Reboot your computer after each step in this article.
Run a GOOD registry cleaner. I use and recommend WinASO Registry Optimizer http://www.winaso.com/download.htm which is FREE to download and use as long as you like, but the trial version has a limitation that is more of an annoyance than anything else, in that it tries to get you to pay for the unlimited version but if you don't mind dealing with the annoyance, it works as good as the paid version. I've been using the FREE trial version for several years since version 1.0. I've never had a single problem using it to clean and optimize my registry. The downside/annoyance of the free trial version is that it will only clean 10 items each time it is run. The first time you run it, you may find several hundred items that need to be fixed so you will have to run it dozens of times. OR BETTER YET, you can run CCleaner's Registry Cleaner option, http://www.ccleaner.com/, to get rid of most of the junk and then follow it up with WinASO to do a full cleaning since it does a better job than CCleaner. After that, if you run WinASO 1-2 times a week, it will be much quicker, easier and keep your computer from being bogged up as much with junk. After cleaning/fixing your registry, reboot your computer.
Another FREE registry cleaner is offered as an online scan from Microsoft by going to the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/cleanup.htm and run the Clean Up scan. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE ACTUAL ONECARE PROGRAM that is advertised on that page. It's not needed to use the free scans and it's not that great of a program anyhow... compared to other free security software that is out there.
Now download and SAVE (to "desktop" or your favorite file folder for saving things where you can find the download after you reboot) the full version of Yahoo Messenger from http://www.filehippo.com/download_yahoo_messenger/ or your favorite safe program download site. DO NOT chose "RUN" during the download and DO NOT RUN or execute the full version after it is downloaded. The full version of YM is around 10-15MB (depending on which version) in comparison to the Yahoo Messenger "official" installer that is only around 484kb when downloaded from http://messenger.yahoo.com/ I find that the Yahoo installer will have more problems especially if someone has a strong firewall or slow internet connection.
It's this "installer" version that causes so many problems, IMO. Because when you run it, it then starts downloading other bits and pieces of the program and if there are any glitches in your internet service or with Yahoo servers (and we all know there are those! ;-\), you can end up with a bad download with various bugs. When you download the full version from FileHippo or another download site, after you download it and get ready to run it, there should be Publisher listed, which should be Yahoo! Inc in a blue link which is to a digital verification site to verify that you have a legitimate version of the program. This works for most programs you may download although there are many that will not have this digital verification capability and when you go to execute one of these "unsigned" programs, you will get a little warning message on the box. If I know I downloaded the program from a reliable site, I don't worry about this but if you are not sure, you should never run a program without a digital signature attached. Many other programs have a way to run a check-sum on the download to make sure you got the download in full without errors but I've never seen this available with YM. Usually, if you have the digital signature, it means things went smoothly and you have a full version without errors.
If you use CCleaner, you should run it now to clean out your temporary files and TIF files. I am not going into all the aspects of CCleaner in this post but for most folks, it can be a problem to remove things they did not want cleaned if they do not go through and become very familiar with the program. It will clean auto-complete info, search history, cookies, etc., when used in the default mode. The CCleaner Registry Cleaner is OK to use in default mode but the rest of CCleaner should be understood before running or the user could lose information that they actually wanted to keep. This is why I like WinASO as a registry cleaner. Even a rookie can run the registry optimizer without causing problems to their computer... at least it's never caused me problems in hundreds of times of running it.
If you don't use CCleaner and did not use the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center Cleanup Scan, you should use your web-browser Tools to empty the TIF files. Then run a Search on your computer for all temporary files and remove them manually. If you don't know how to do this, then you should download CCleaner and become familiar with CCleaner and use it for this purpose or use the Windows Cleanup online scan. Feel free to ask me here and I'll tell you how I have my CCleaner set up to run it daily to keep the junk files off my computer.
Reboot the computer and leave all other programs turned off except for anti-virus and firewall.
Then, if you downloaded YM full version to your desktop, simply click on it to execute the program. If you have a firewall, you should get a pop-up asking for access, from the YM program installer, to the internet and other areas of your computer. Permit this and if you use an advanced firewall (which you should be using over the Windows Firewall which isn't very good), put a check mark in the box to allow it on a permanent basis. You can always go back to the firewall user interface and delete this permission later if you want to.
Choose the "CUSTOM" install instead of Yahoo's recommended install. This makes sure that all you install is YM and not all the other junk they try to get you to install like tool bars, etc. I choose CUSTOM install on ALL programs that I install on my computer to make sure I don't install junk I didn't want. The CUSTOM install still gives you the option to install other things but it doesn't force them on you without your knowledge. This is common practice on all FREE programs as a way to help them pay for their free program. Google, MSN, Yahoo and other companies pay to have their toolbars and desktop search programs included in the downloads. Reputable download sites and programs give you the option of opting out of these add-ons.
Now, once the YM program is installed on your computer. Reboot again.
Rebooting is important to computers as it's a way of letting the computer put everything back into place. If you are in the habit of leaving your computer on for days at a time, if you find it getting sluggish, a reboot will normally speed it back up again.
Now start up YM and go through your preferences, setting things to work how you like them. Become familiar with the Messenger Menus and the Preferences Menus and ask questions here about anything you may not understand.
The last thing that I do with any new install of YM is go into the C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger folder (or for version 10.x, the Yupdater.exe is now located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Yahoo!\YUpdater and find the file Yupdater.exe and change the name to Yupdater-NOT USED.exe. You can also use your firewall to simply block Yupdater.exe from connecting to the internet but many folks do not utilize their firewalls in an advanced mode so Yupdater.exe would have access unless you went into your firewall and blocked it. This way with changing the file name, your installed version of YM will not automatically update to any newer release of YM without your express consent as YM will not find the Yupdater.exe file when it tries to contact Yahoo like it will do on a regular basis if you don't block it or change the file name. YM 10.0x does have a section in the preferences that allows you to check off saying that you do not want YM to update automatically and I have that checked off but I still change the Yupdater.exe file as well.
If you decide you are not happy with your current version, you can then repeat the steps above and download a more recent version and install that version. I've found that allowing Yupdater.exe to connect to Yahoo, it constantly stays in contact with Yahoo whenever YM is in use. I've verified this with my firewall. I'm not sure why an updater process would need to stay in constant contact with the manufacturer. Even my Antivirus, Antispyware, etc., only contacts their updates once a day for new malware definitions. None of my other programs on my computer stays in constant contact for updates. They either run on a monthly basis or some other time interval. Certainly, Yahoo isn't releasing daily updates so YM should not need 100% access to Yahoo servers, IMO.
Hopefully, if all went well, your newly installed or reinstalled version of YM will be much more stable and cause less problems for you and you will not need to update to new versions as often.
I still run YM versions 8.1x, 9.1x and 10.0x and they are very stable on my computers compared to some of the stories I read about daily and with the people I help on a daily basis here and on other forums and my friends and neighbors that used the Yahoo Installer.
I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll probably put this on my blog with some screen shots of WinASO and CCleaner and how I have my CCleaner set up so it does not clean things some people actually want to keep and I'll post a link when I do.
Ooops. I almost forgot one step. It may not be critical but it could cause you to lose your archived chats if you have YM set to save them. Before uninstalling and cleaning up your computer with WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility, go to C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles\(your yahoo name)\Archive and copy both of the folders in the Archive folder. There should be a Conferences and a Messages folder. Just copy and save them to your desktop or your other favorite place to save things.
Usually, during an uninstall and reinstall of YM, these folders are left in place but in the past, if I had a buggy YM install, I would sometimes go and delete the entire Messenger folder (C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger) to make sure I get rid of all traces of the buggy version. By saving copies of the Archive folders, I can move them back into their proper place after a new clean install. If you go to this extreme of removing everything associated with YM, make sure you run WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility before doing the clean install of the new full version download.
Hope this helps!
Lenny Vasbinder
Here are the emails that I mentioned in the May 08, 2010 Update:
-----Original Message-----
From: J
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 10:46 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: I'm back!!
High Lenny,
Thanks for the 2 sites you gave me to uninstall and check for updates, really good ones.
I did the complete uninstall and downloaded the latest IM 10.x and the scan said it was perfect, it also picked up 3 earlier versions of yahoo that are lying in my registry that uninstall has not removed. How do I identify that and erase it?
I have copied the new IM 10.x to a flash drive and am going to uninstall the sytem again and reinstall after I have erased the old Im's, as I still have the same display problem at 480 x 800 ech time I log on. Added to that, my cam works on IM, but when I choose a room it won't connect, just says getting room list and stays dead, so it's got worse damnit.
Thats why I want to start fresh again, also I now get a add on notification on any site saying website wants Adobe flash player wants to be added on. I have okayed it and run it but nothing changes the system and it keeps on appearing.
I have also checked my add ons in tools and they are all enabled.
So once again, would you kindly give me your thoughts?
regards,
MORSELS / Jerry
And my REPLY:
-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 11:32 PM
To: 'J'; 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: I'm back!!
Hi Jerry,
See one of my previous replies. After you did the FULL install of YM, did you check the YahooMessenger.exe file Properties>Compatibility Tab, to make sure that you don't have a check mark in the display settings box? It shouldn't be but possibly one of your old versions has a registry key that is affecting the settings of your new download.
If that isn't the problem, I'm wondering if one of the old version or some registry remnant from one of the old version is messing things up in other ways.
Did you save the FULL download from http://www.filehippo.com/ (or your preferred download site)? If you saved it on your desktop or in a folder in your My Documents folder or however you have your computer organized, then there is no need to copy that to a flash drive. When you uninstall YM, it will not delete the file that you downloaded so after you clean things up, you can just click on that .exe file again and start the install process all over again.
When you uninstall YM 10.x, I would use the Revo Uninstaller and then follow the instructions with Revo to delete all of the leftover registry keys and program remnants. See my blog article for more details.
Then run the Secunia Online Scanner again and see if it finds any remnants of the old versions of YM. If it does, it will actually list the file path to where that remnant was found and you can just follow that file path and just highlight and delete the files. OR... after running Revo, you can just go to your C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger and delete the entire Messenger folder but you may want to go through that folder and only delete the things you do not want to keep. For example, I save my archived chats so I move those Archive folders to My Documents folder and then move them back to their proper place after I install a new version. For Windows XP, the Archive folder is in the above file path.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, the file path is:
C:\Users\
If you feel comfortable fooling with your Registry, you could also search for Yahoo Messenger entries in your registry and clean them out manually, although I would use CCleaner's Registry Cleaner and then WinASO Registry Optimizer to look for and clean up any errant registry entries... and if you used Revo Uninstaller, it probably already got them all!
After things are all cleaned up, then do the installation again, check the Properties>Compatibility Tab to make sure nothing is checked there and if you are still having monitor issues, I would have to think it's one of the other problems with a driver that needs to be updated or rolled back. See my earlier reply for some of the other issues that caused monitor issues related to YM.
As far as Adobe Flash, once you've uninstalled it and removed the old remnants, using the same methods above, go to http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html and it will check your version and http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will show an animated flash video that says "Adobe Flash Player Successfully Installed" and then change to another Adobe related Ad. If you aren't updated or installed properly, go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ (you may want to uncheck the Google Toolbar thing... I NEVER install all of the add-on software that is often pushed from many free programs) Click on Agree And Install and follow the prompts to install Adobe. Prior to doing this, Secunia's Online scanner should have told you about out-dated Flash remnants and you can follow the file paths to delete the outdated flash files that were left over from previous installations.
As far as going to the rooms, I think you have to have Java installed. Did Secunia identify if you had Java installed and updated? If you didn't, get it here. http://www.java.com/getjava/ On that page, right below the Free Java Download button, there's a link to "Do I Have Java?" so you can check it first and that will also tell you if you have the latest version.
I probably need to add some of this info to my article on doing a FULL and CLEAN install of YM since Flash and Java are often needed with YM.
Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves, Opinions & Information)
CLICK THE LINK "YAHOO MESSENGER" UNDER THE LABELS SECTION TO THE LEFT FOR MORE OF MY BLOGS ABOUT YAHOO MESSENGER
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and
files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your
computer.
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.22/1112 - Release Date: 11/5/2007
7:11 PM
P.S. - I no longer use AVG Free but instead I use the FREE Comodo Internet Security Suite from http://www.comodo.com/ which includes a GREAT firewall, good antivirus and antimalware protection. Of course, I still do my weekly updates with Spybot's Immunize feater and SpywareBlaster and I still run regular scans with MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, a-Squared Free and various online scans to make sure Comodo is catching everything but for the most part, Comodo's suite is doing a good job and is a very low resource suite compared to other suites that I've used. I even use it on an OLD XP computer with only 384MB of RAM and can still run other high resource programs like Outlook 2003, Word 2003, IE8, etc.
Review of Sunbelt CounterSpy Anti-Spyware Program version 2.5.1040
Review of CounterSpy (CS) from http://www.sunbelt-software.com/
Knowing my two year subscription to Spy Sweeper was expiring soon, I started searching to see if there was something better out there and decided to try out CounterSpy since it was getting rave reviews from many in the computer security industry.
I was able to purchase it at a special price of only $13.13 for their Halloween special through WXPNews newsletter. I also opted to purchase the 2nd year of the subscription at a special price of $9.98 so the two year subscription was only $23.11... a small price to pay for two years of spyware protection while surfing the net!!!
Prior to writing this review, I first uninstalled my previous anti-spyware, Spy Sweeper (SS) from http://www.webroot.com/, then I ran WinASO Registry Optimizer http://www.winaso.com to clean out any registry entries, rebooted the computer and started the installation of CS.
Even the FREE trial version of WinASO, http://www.winaso.com/ will do a full registry repair but you simply have to keep running it over and over since it will only fix 10 registry entries each time in the FREE trial mode. Once you have your computer cleaned the first time, then weekly WinASO scans will usually only result in 1-2 scans needed to fix things unless you are a heavy downloaded and uninstaller since those two things leave scattered registry entries. The first time you run WinASO, you may have to run it dozens of times to clean your registry properly.
Installation was simple enough and the program did not ask to try and install any 3rd party applications like search bars or tool bars which was a pleasant surprise. So many programs try to push other programs on people and if you click yes, you end up with a bunch of bloated non-essential programs hogging up your resources. It did take a little longer than expected to update the definitions from version 617 to version 667, even with a DSL connection. I had to allow three connections from CS.
According to Task Manager (Cntrl-Alt-Del on Win XP), there were two processes running during the initial scan. SBCSSvc.exe and CounterSpy.exe. During initial scan, highest CPU % noted was 47% by SBCSSvc.exe with the average amount being around 15-30% and 15% by CounterSpy.exe. However, while typing this post, I noticed the CPU usage jump to 99% but not the entire time I was typing so it may have been something it was scanning that caused it to jump up to 99%. It went back down to the 15-30% range after a few seconds at 99%. Peak Mem Usage for SBCSSvc.exe was 219,640K and Peak Mem Usage with the Mem Usage in the 16,000K range during most of the scan. For CounterSpy.exe, the Peak Mem Usage was 40,228K with the Mem Usage in the 20,000K range during most of the scan. I also noticed CounterSpy.exe CPU usage jumping up into the 80% range while it was scanning the registry keys while the SBCSSvc.exe stayed in single digits for CPU usage during the registry scan.
Compared to my previous anti-spyware, Spy Sweeper (SS) from Webroot, CounterSpy (CS) is using much less system resources when running a full system scan. SS would use up into the 80% range during a full system scan and stay at that level or up into the 90% range the entire time so at least with CS, while running a full system scan, you should be able to do other computing without too much hang time occurring.
During scan, CS scanned Memory Processes first and scanned a total of 2,202 with 0 Memory Processes detected with any spyware.
Then it started scanning files. After scanning 117,156 files, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
Then it started scanning registry keys. After scanning 251,553 registry keys, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
Then it scanned Cookies and after scanning 166 cookies, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
A Scan Results window popped up upon completion and it shows total scan time as 59 minutes 20 seconds with a clean bill of health on my computer... which I kind of already knew but I wanted to see what CS might say on it's first scan.
I then started poking around and ran the My PC Checkup which suggested five things that needed to be fixed and it said 77 others were OK. I ran the fix on the five it suggested. It also has a History Eraser and Secure File Eraser. I don't worry about the History Eraser stuff like some folks so I skipped that step but I did try out the Secure File Eraser on a rather persistent file that I've been trying to delete for a week or so but every time I try to delete it, even in safe mode, it shows the file is being used by another program and it won't let me delete the file. I created this video file (.wav) using my webcam with a security program where it would use my webcam to monitor my office to see if anyone came in while I was not around and it created this .wav file that was over 1GB in size and I haven't been able to delete the file because it says the file is being used by another program. I haven't been overly worried about the file but it is something I need to remove so I tried the Secure File Eraser to delete/shred this file but it caused the SFE to hang up and I had to end the SFE task using Task Manager. I'll notify CS tech support about this issue.
I then went through and set up the automatic download of definitions and scan schedules to when I prefer them.
Generally speaking, I like CounterSpy but I'll follow up with further posts as I learn more about it.
Lenny Vasbinder
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.
Knowing my two year subscription to Spy Sweeper was expiring soon, I started searching to see if there was something better out there and decided to try out CounterSpy since it was getting rave reviews from many in the computer security industry.
I was able to purchase it at a special price of only $13.13 for their Halloween special through WXPNews newsletter. I also opted to purchase the 2nd year of the subscription at a special price of $9.98 so the two year subscription was only $23.11... a small price to pay for two years of spyware protection while surfing the net!!!
Prior to writing this review, I first uninstalled my previous anti-spyware, Spy Sweeper (SS) from http://www.webroot.com/, then I ran WinASO Registry Optimizer http://www.winaso.com to clean out any registry entries, rebooted the computer and started the installation of CS.
Even the FREE trial version of WinASO, http://www.winaso.com/ will do a full registry repair but you simply have to keep running it over and over since it will only fix 10 registry entries each time in the FREE trial mode. Once you have your computer cleaned the first time, then weekly WinASO scans will usually only result in 1-2 scans needed to fix things unless you are a heavy downloaded and uninstaller since those two things leave scattered registry entries. The first time you run WinASO, you may have to run it dozens of times to clean your registry properly.
Installation was simple enough and the program did not ask to try and install any 3rd party applications like search bars or tool bars which was a pleasant surprise. So many programs try to push other programs on people and if you click yes, you end up with a bunch of bloated non-essential programs hogging up your resources. It did take a little longer than expected to update the definitions from version 617 to version 667, even with a DSL connection. I had to allow three connections from CS.
According to Task Manager (Cntrl-Alt-Del on Win XP), there were two processes running during the initial scan. SBCSSvc.exe and CounterSpy.exe. During initial scan, highest CPU % noted was 47% by SBCSSvc.exe with the average amount being around 15-30% and 15% by CounterSpy.exe. However, while typing this post, I noticed the CPU usage jump to 99% but not the entire time I was typing so it may have been something it was scanning that caused it to jump up to 99%. It went back down to the 15-30% range after a few seconds at 99%. Peak Mem Usage for SBCSSvc.exe was 219,640K and Peak Mem Usage with the Mem Usage in the 16,000K range during most of the scan. For CounterSpy.exe, the Peak Mem Usage was 40,228K with the Mem Usage in the 20,000K range during most of the scan. I also noticed CounterSpy.exe CPU usage jumping up into the 80% range while it was scanning the registry keys while the SBCSSvc.exe stayed in single digits for CPU usage during the registry scan.
Compared to my previous anti-spyware, Spy Sweeper (SS) from Webroot, CounterSpy (CS) is using much less system resources when running a full system scan. SS would use up into the 80% range during a full system scan and stay at that level or up into the 90% range the entire time so at least with CS, while running a full system scan, you should be able to do other computing without too much hang time occurring.
During scan, CS scanned Memory Processes first and scanned a total of 2,202 with 0 Memory Processes detected with any spyware.
Then it started scanning files. After scanning 117,156 files, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
Then it started scanning registry keys. After scanning 251,553 registry keys, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
Then it scanned Cookies and after scanning 166 cookies, it showed 0 detected with spyware.
A Scan Results window popped up upon completion and it shows total scan time as 59 minutes 20 seconds with a clean bill of health on my computer... which I kind of already knew but I wanted to see what CS might say on it's first scan.
I then started poking around and ran the My PC Checkup which suggested five things that needed to be fixed and it said 77 others were OK. I ran the fix on the five it suggested. It also has a History Eraser and Secure File Eraser. I don't worry about the History Eraser stuff like some folks so I skipped that step but I did try out the Secure File Eraser on a rather persistent file that I've been trying to delete for a week or so but every time I try to delete it, even in safe mode, it shows the file is being used by another program and it won't let me delete the file. I created this video file (.wav) using my webcam with a security program where it would use my webcam to monitor my office to see if anyone came in while I was not around and it created this .wav file that was over 1GB in size and I haven't been able to delete the file because it says the file is being used by another program. I haven't been overly worried about the file but it is something I need to remove so I tried the Secure File Eraser to delete/shred this file but it caused the SFE to hang up and I had to end the SFE task using Task Manager. I'll notify CS tech support about this issue.
I then went through and set up the automatic download of definitions and scan schedules to when I prefer them.
Generally speaking, I like CounterSpy but I'll follow up with further posts as I learn more about it.
Lenny Vasbinder
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World Flag Counter added 04/14/2010 and U.S. Flag added 04/26/2010, so the numbers are WAY low.
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